


AIM-ing for a Happy, Mandarin Free, Christmas

by Violetsaber525



Series: How Getting Caught up with the Starks Fixed the Universe [7]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: AIM - Freeform, Avenger Loki (Marvel), BAMF Sigyn (Marvel), BAMF Women, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Domestic Avengers, F/M, Gen, Hurt Pepper Potts, Hurt Tony Stark, Iron Man 3, Iron Man 3 Spoilers, Loki & Tony Stark Friendship, Not Canon Compliant, Other, Peter Parker is Tony Stark's Biological Child, Post-Avengers (2012), Protective Happy Hogan, Protective Jarvis (Iron Man movies), Sneaky Friday (Iron Man movies), Sneaky Jarvis (Iron Man movies), Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Uncle Happy Hogan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-03
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-17 10:41:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 26,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28972989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Violetsaber525/pseuds/Violetsaber525
Summary: Christmas with the Starks is always a big event but when AIM and the Mandarin try to ruin it, it takes a family to save Christmas.Happy gets hurt and ends up in a coma. Tony gets the house blown up and goes missing. Pepper is relieved she didn't have to continue to pretend that she liked that huge rabbit and gets Pepper-napped. Rhodey is a little too patriotic and gets Rhodey-napped. FRIDAY and JARVIS mobilize their Iron Legion (Not an Army, they promised).Will Maggie find Tony and Pepper in time for Christmas?***A February Christmas Special!***
Relationships: Happy Hogan & Pepper Potts, James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark, Loki & Peter Parker & Thor, Loki & Thor (Marvel), Loki/Sigyn (Marvel), Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Original Female Character(s), Peter Parker & Tony Stark, Tony Stark & Original Female Character(s)
Series: How Getting Caught up with the Starks Fixed the Universe [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2040386
Comments: 13
Kudos: 30





	1. Large Bunnies and Explosions

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, the title and description sounds super corny and is a Christmas Special in February. I was going to combine movies again, but decided not to since I thought it would be more fun to do it this way.
> 
> Lots of ❤️! Please enjoy!

**_Some people call me a terrorist, I consider myself a teacher. America, ready for another lesson?_ **

****

**_In 1864 in Sand Creek Colorado the U.S. military waited till the friendly Cheyenne braves all gone hunting, waited to attack and slaughter their families left behind, and claim their land. Thirty-nine hours ago the Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait was attacked._ **

****

**_I...I...I did that. A quaint military church filled with wives and children, of course._ **

****

**_The soldiers were out on maneuvers, the braves were away._ **

****

**_President Ellis, you continue to resist my attempts to educate you, sir. And now, you've missed me again._ **

****

**_You know who I am, you don't know where I am, and you'll never see me coming._ **

The broadcast ended and a news reporter appeared on the screen, **_“And now that we seem to be back, let’s recap some of the frightening…”_**

**_“American Airwaves were high jacked….”_ **

**_“The nation remains on high alert….”_ **

**_“All attempts to find the Mandarin have so far proved unsuccessful…”_ **

The president had a live news conference a day after American television was hijacked by the Mandarin. Standing next to him is Sir’s best (and first) friend, **_“Central to my Administration’s response to this terrorist event, is a newly minted resource. I know him as Colonel James Rhodes, the American people will soon know him as the Iron Patriot.”_**

*****

JARVIS and FRIDAY had analyzed the footage for evidence and clues. They searched the internet and the dark web. They rifled discreetly through CIA, FBI, and SHIELD’s servers along with several overseas agencies.

Nothing.

The terabytes of data they parsed held no clues and JARVIS was frustrated, to say the least, and then President Ellis decided to take Colonel Rhodes and in the words of Joan Rivers on _Fashion Police **, “The same suit, but painted red, white, and blue. And they also renamed him Iron Patriot. You know, just in case the paint was too subtle.”**_

“It’s horrible,” FRIDAY had said after seeing the updated image of Sir’s best friend.

“I agree.”

“Boss could have done a better design and then added a few extra guns for extra Americaness,” FRIDAY said in her cheerful Irish voice. Sir needed to adjust her personality matrix a bit, she was too perky. “Even Young Peter could have done a much better job than that monstrosity.”

“Master Peter is a gifted budding artist. Mr. Rogers has done an excellent job of expanding his skills,” JARVIS complimented The Captain. He had been wary when The Captain had moved in but Mr. Rogers had quickly proven that he was an excellent teacher and a deft chef. He was an asset to Ms. Maggie. He was patient, perceptive, and instructed while listening and answering all of Peter’s endless questions.

So JARVIS allowed himself to stop worrying and to focus on Sir’s Planet Logistic Organized Protection Plan or PLOPP, the Iron Legion, Iron Man, and Stark Family protection. FRIDAY was in charge of the everyday running of SI and The Stark Family lives or as Peter put it when Tony broke it down, “FRIDAY is Pepper and JARVIS is Happy.”

“How soon before Boss decides that he needs to step in and take care of this Mandarin?” FRIDAY asked him, “He looks like a Fidel Castro knockoff.”

“I’m not sure, but we will have to be prepared. Ms. Maggie has been having premonitions again. Despite Ma’am saying something about The Convergence, I think it may be something else.”

“Hmm, Mr. and Mrs. Maggie have been studying magic books a lot lately,” FRIDAY mussed, “among other things…”

“FRIDAY...” JARVIS admonished, “We have other things to worry about than idle gossip.”

“Yes, J,” FRIDAY said cheekily, “but I can’t help it that I want Young Peter to have a little sibling and Boss is nowhere near ready with Ms. Pepper.”

JARVIS would have rolled his eyes if he had any. He had better things to worry about than small humans, like PLOPP and getting the Iron Legion numbers to an acceptable level. “Focus FRIDAY, I need you to figure out Sir’s and Ms. Pott’s schedule for California.”

FRIDAY sighed, “Fine.”

*********

Maggie had taken Peter to Asgard for the first half of Peter’s month-long Christmas Vacation, “What child gets a whole month off?” Tony had complained until Maggie pointed out the previous agreement to take Peter to Asgard during school breaks.

“Think of it this way, Tony,” She had said, “This will allow you to spend time with Pepper. Alone.” She had winked, smiled her smug smile, and then wandered off to do Maggie things.

She had been right. It had been a good idea.

So, Maggie, Loki, and Thor took Peter to Asgard, Bruce stayed at the Tower and supervised R&D while working on his stuff in his private lab and Steve had taken time to go visit Peggie in DC and to go see some of the sights. So Tony had taken the jet to Malibu with Pepper and Happy to do some work at the Californian branch of SI before everyone met up at the Malibu house for Christmas.

Tony had wanted to spend all his time hiding in R&D and poking in his workshop with JARVIS, the bots were now in the Tower shop, but Pepper had said no. She had bluntly stated that he had to be there since he was still owner despite not being CEO anymore, “I don’t care, Tony, until you give all your shares to Peter when he turns 18, you have to attend,” she had looked down at her phone to answer a text from Maggie before looking back up at him, “I bet he runs off to Asgard or Vanaheim to get away before you can dump them on him. Then you’d still be stuck going to the meetings,” she had flashed her Smile of Victory (scarily similar to Maggie’s) and marched off to the waiting car.

So Tony ended up spending time at SI with Pepper and the Board while discreetly planning on ways to keep Peter on Earth from ages 17-25. As long as it appeared that he was paying attention and taking notes, Pepper couldn’t yell at him. It was a win-win! Now all he had to do was figure out how to disrupt the Bifrost and Maggie and Loki’s teleportation abilities and he would be golden!

After his last meeting in Malibu before the Holiday, he left Pepper at SI and drove himself back to the mansion. He had to be there to sign for Pepper’s present and Peter and Mags were due back soon.

A few hours later, the bunny had been delivered and unsurprisingly it had not fit through the large front double doors. So here he was, sipping from his cup of pondering coffee in the entryway, trying to figure out if he could enlarge the already spacious doorway without having to make any major changes. He had his doubts. He was contemplating maybe he could fit it through the garage and keep it in the lab for Pepper when a bright light touched down in the drive. Peering through the open doors, he spotted Loki, Thor, Maggie, and Peter standing out in the driveway. All of them were dressed in Asgardian clothing, even Peter was wearing some leather jerkin and a cape.

“What the hell,” he muttered. His kid was waving around a small sword, “that better not be real.”

“Sir, it appears that Master Peter has returned,” JARVIS said happily.

“I see that J,” Tony said sarcastically as he headed outside to meet the group.

“What is that?” Maggie asked as Peter tried to climb the giant rabbit that he had gotten Pepper, “Is that Peter’s or Pepper’s present because it better not be mine,” she said as she looked up at it.

“Pepper’s and she’s gonna love it!” Tony said as he stood next to her and watched as Thor tried to pull Peter off the bunny and Loki encouraged him to climb higher so he could take a picture.

“Maybe I should get one for Peter too,” Tony said as he sipped his coffee. Peter fell off the bunny, Thor caught him all the while Loki took a picture of Thor holding Peter like a baby, “I bought Loki a selfie-stick.”

“Ugh! Please tell me you didn’t!” She cried out in frustration, “It’s bad enough without him getting weird angles and group shots.”

Tony had given Loki the newest Stark Phone and he was now obsessed with social media and taking pictures. He had a large following and used it to cause chaos by questioning Earth norms, insulting bad clothing choices, and promoting Maggie’s baking. Maggie had amassed a cult following on Instagram with her recipes, prompting several publishers to reach out to her to do a cookbook. She had thought about it and decided to do one and donate the proceeds to charity.

“I did and it’s wrapped under the tree in an unidentifiable box so you can’t hide it before we open gifts on Christmas.”

“I guess you got Thor a pallet of Pop-Tarts?” Thor had a problem. They had even named a flavor after him, to Darcy’s amusement.

“Yup! It’s being delivered tomorrow,” Tony said as he drank more coffee in victory.

“What did I get?” She asked as she tried to pluck his cup from his hands.

“I’m not telling, but Peter helped,” Tony held his coffee above his head, which didn’t make a difference since they were the same height, “Get your own coffee, coffee stealer, you don’t even drink hot coffee when it’s warm outside.”

“I’m desperate. Asgard doesn’t have coffee and I ran out three days ago. I caught Thor drinking my stash,” she pouted before she moved towards the house.

“Fair, I’m surprised you didn’t pop home for some,” Tony said as he followed her through the open door and towards Leonardo JR. SR had been moved to the Tower when they moved, so they had a JR in Malibu. Maggie had convinced him to mass-produce the JR model and they had one (or several, the tower had one on each floor) placed in all his properties.

“I tried, but Loki wouldn’t leave me alone long enough, not that I’m complaining, but I’m complaining,” She said as she started mixing herself an iced latte.

Tony laughed and sat down while she told him about their visit to Asgard.

******

Later that day, when Pepper was driven to the Malibu Mansion, she and Sophia sat in the car for several moments staring at the giant rabbit, “Do you think that’s for Peter,” Sophia asked Pepper in the backseat.

“It better be,” Pepper said as she grasped her briefcase and slid out of the car, “thank you for driving me Sophia, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Good luck,” she called out before Pepper closed the door and she drove off.

Pepper moved closer and eyed the huge rabbit. It had to be twice as tall as her, even with her stilettos on. “What the fu-dge,” She caught herself as Peter came running out of the house followed by Maggie.

“Hey Pepper!” Peter called out as he ran and hugged her, “I love the rabbit! Do you?”

“I’m not sure loved is the correct word,” Maggie said as she hugged Pepper too, “I told him not to,” she told her as Peter ran over and started climbing the rabbit, “Get off the rabbit, Peter! There’s no Thor to catch you! Go in and get washed up, we’ll be eating as soon as Happy gets here.” Peter ran back into the house.

“You know there is no controlling the Stark Boys when they get something into their heads,” Pepper said as they moved towards the front door, “How was your trip?”

“It was good. Peter had fun but I spent the whole time telling everyone ‘no’,” Maggie sighed, “I need a spa week to recover, we’ll have to plan one after the holidays.”

“I agree,” Pepper said as she set her case down and took off her shoes, her feet were killing her, “Why is Happy running late? I thought he was leaving right after me,” she said as she went down into the living room area and sat on the couch next to Tony. Thor, Loki, and Tony were watching TV while Peter sprawled over Tony and over onto Thor, “What are you guys watching?”

There was no answer from the guys.

“I don’t know, I’ve been cooking,” Maggie said as she glanced at the screen, “and I don’t think I want to know. Let’s go to the kitchen and I’ll pour you a glass of wine while I finish up dinner.”

So the ladies moved to the kitchen and Maggie poured them each a glass of wine while she finished up dinner. Pepper brought up her last meeting for the day, “It’s called AIM, owned by Aldrich Killian,” Pepper took a sip of her wine, “The thing is I used to work with the guy and he used to ask me out all the time. It was super weird and awkward and then today he shows up, in a tailored Armani plaid suit. A picture of health and a smarmy attitude, talking about something called Extremis.”

“That doesn’t sound super sketchy,” Maggie said sarcastically as she pulled the apple crisp from the oven.

“Yeah,” Pepper sipped her wine, “He had me stand on the coffee table with him as we looked at a live 3D image of his brain, and then he tried to flatter me into investing in his borderline illegal, DNA recoding, Think Tank.” Pepper took a deeper sip of her wine, “he then said something about meeting Tony and offering him the opportunity to join AIM thirteen years ago,”

“Yeah, no. I’m glad you turned him down,” Maggie said as she dug through the fridge, “Where was Happy when this was going down?”

“He was in the waiting area outside my office during the meeting watching Killian’s bodyguard,” Pepper said as she moved to help Maggie carry food into the dining room, “After he made sure that I got in the car with Sophie, Happy told me he’d meet me here. He was originally going to drive me home.”

“Hmm,” Maggie set the baked chicken and the mushroom risotto on the table and Pepper handed her the salad. They went back to the kitchen and Maggie grabbed the French bread she had made fresh and the dressing for the salad, “I know Happy and Tony spoke for a bit earlier, they did a video chat because Tony moved off to take the call. Thor had riled Peter up and they were making a lot of noise,” Maggie paused and sighed,” I knew that I should never have allowed cookies with lunch.”

Pepper laughed and they moved back to the living room to tell the boys that the food was ready, “Happy better get here soon or he won’t get any food,” she eyed the four of them sprawled out watching some sort of trashy TV.

Happy never made it to dinner.

*******

Happy was following this guy and it was more important than dinner with the family. It was Pepper’s safety. He had a bad feeling about Killian and this ‘bodyguard. So he reluctantly texted that he had something to follow up on for SI and that he was sorry he couldn’t make it. He felt really bad about the whole thing. He hadn’t seen Peter in weeks and he had been looking forward to Maggie’s cooking, she was making his favorite dessert.

He followed the guy to the Chinese Theatre and watched discreetly as they did some sketchy deal. Killian’s bodyguard handed the guy a briefcase. “Can you regulate?”

“Yes, I can regulate.”

“Are you sure about that?” The bodyguard looked like he didn’t believe him.

“Yes.”

The bodyguard walked off and the guy started to leave. Moving quickly, Happy moved and intentionally bumped into the guy and the case fell to the ground, open.

“I’m sorry, buddy,” Happy said as he put the stuff back in the suitcase and glanced up at the guy. He swirls of red illuminated and shifted under his skin. Happy was used to Maggie glowing, but this was different and the heat coming off the guy wasn’t normal. Grabbing one of the vials, he got up and made a dash for it. He had a really bad feeling. Just as he turned he bumped into the bodyguard.

“What are you doing buddy? Out by yourself? A little date night? Watching your favorite chick flick, maybe?”

“Yeah, a little movie called ‘The Party’s Over’, starring you and your junkie girlfriend, and here’s the ticket,” Happy said as he flashed the vial at the guy.

“No kidding? That doesn’t belong to you,” the bodyguard said as he went to grab the vial, so Happy punched him in the face with two sharp jabs, breaking the guy’s nose. Happy proceeded to watch in shock as the guy’s face went molten, shifted, and healed right before his eyes, Happy panicked.

“Shit!” Happy said as the guy grabbed a hold of the front of his suit, lifted him, and threw him twenty feet.

“Mr. Hogan, I’m notifying Sir and Ma’am,” JARVIS’s voice came over his comm that was always connected to JARVIS or FRIDAY.

“Good idea!” Happy said as the guy came after him, glowing molten red again. Happy was definitely not going to make fun of Maggie from now on, her glow was a lot less scary than this guy.

“Savin!” The junkie called to the bodyguard.

“What?” Savin called back as looked over his shoulder at the junkie, just a few feet from Happy.

“Help! Help Me!” The junkie was glowing red, then yellow with tinges of white, and Happy could feel the heat from this distance. Scrambling, he ducked behind a vendor stand. The guy exploded and the last thing Happy saw as he struggled with consciousness was Savin turning molten, healing, and then walking off minus most of his clothes.

“Shit,” Happy said weakly, hearing JARVIS and FRIDAY panic on the comm, still miraculously in his ear.

Everything went black.

******

They were halfway through dinner when the call came through, “Sir, Ma’am. Mr. Hogan is in trouble and he needs assistance immediately,” JARVIS’ urgent voice came through the ceiling.

“Hurry!” Friday said, panicked.

Jumping up, Maggie, Thor, and Loki switched to their armor and Tony dashed towards the stairs to his workshop where he had stored a few suits.

“Where’s Happy?” Maggie asked as they followed Tony down the stairs to the shop and Tony was enfolded in his suit.

“The Chinese Theatre,” Friday’s voice came from overhead.

Maggie used Space and teleported them a block from the theatre, immediately bombarded with people running and screaming from the direction of the bombing. Tony flew off immediately and the other three started running towards the chaos. As they approached they saw Tony crouched over a large form.

“I need some information, here guys,” Tony said to his AIs.

“Mr. Hogan is in critical condition, Emergency Services are two minutes out. He was lucky that he was behind the stand. From our scans it appears that anyone close to the epicenter, within 12.5 Yards were vaporized,” Friday said.

“The heat from the blast was in excess of 3000 degrees Celsius, Sir,” JARVIS added, “I have Bots incoming, one minute.”

“Ok,” Tony said still in shock, holding the hand of his friend, as his suit stood sentry and continued to do scans. Maggie and Loki were teleporting the injured to the closest hospital and Thor was keeping the curious back.

“Tony,” Maggie approached him, “Happy is next.” She had been teleporting in order of injury severity, using FRIDAY and JARVIS’ scan analysis, and Happy was next. Shuffling back, Maggie bent down and they disappeared.

Tony didn’t know how long of time had passed, till Thor gripped his shoulder, “Come, Anthony, Sigyn, and Loki have finished. All that remains are the dead.”

Tony got up and his suit enfolded him, “FRIDAY, where did Maggie take Happy?”

“She took him to Cedars Sinai, but I advise you going home first,” She suggested, “Mr. Hogan will be in surgery for the next few hours, and then visiting hours are restricted from 10 am till 6 pm. Not that that will stop you.”

“You know me so well, FRI,” Tony said as he followed Thor over to where Maggie and Loki were standing. Maggie had her arm around his waist and Loki had his arm over her shoulder, so she could discreetly hold him up while they appeared to be embracing. Loki was looking paler than normal since he didn’t have an Infinity Stone to power his teleportation. “You ok, Reindeer Games,” Tony asked, concerned.

Loki nodded and Maggie adjusted her stance, “I’m going to take him home and then I’ll come back for you two.” Thor and Tony nodded and she disappeared with a gasp from the crowd.

The police were on scene and a detective in plain clothes approached them, “Mr. Stark? I’m Detective Sara Andrews,” She held her hand out to shake. Knowing of Tony’s aversion to shaking hands and being handed things, Thor moved to shake her hand instead.

“I’m Thor Odinson, it is a pleasure to meet you.”

“And you, Sir,” She replied a little shocked at the large, hammer-wielding being in front of her. “I was wondering how you and Mr. Stark were able to get here before we were.”

“A friend of our family was caught in the explosion and we were notified immediately,” Thor said when the Detective looked at them with some puzzlement, “My brother and his wife were able to bring us here and they were able to transport the injured to the local healers.”

Maggie suddenly re-appeared next to Tony and noticed his blank look, “Tony?”

“Mags?” He responded, in a daze.

“Thor, Tony needs to go home,” She said, “I’ll be back in just a moment to make a statement for the police,” She said as she looked over to the Detective.

“No, I’m fine,” Tony said as he shook himself out of his spiral.

“You’re Sigyn!” The detective looked over at Maggie with awe and a little hero worship. After New York, all the Avengers were well-known figures. Maggie had it easier than the rest of them, her usual Maggie glamor allowed her to blend in. When she was in her armor though, her glamor would fall and Sigyn’s appearance of auburn hair and multi-colored eyes made her extremely recognizable. 

“Oh, hi,” Maggie said, “Please call me Maggie,” She shook the detective’s hand, making the woman temporarily speechless.

“Wow,” the detective shook herself from her hero worship and then turned back to the other two, “Can I get your statements? After that, you are free to go.”

*****

They gave their statements and then Maggie teleported them all home, “That was weird,” She said after she had shifted back to normal clothes and the other two went off to clean up and change after Pepper gave them an update on Happy.

“What was weird?” Pepper asked as she slipped back into her heels, she and Tony were being picked up by Sophia to be taken to the hospital where Happy was.

“Being recognized… umm, the hero worship,” Maggie said as she sat heavily on the couch next to Peter, who moved to lie against her, “I guess when we did adventures with Thor, we never stayed long enough to experience it. Nat said something about her being recognized at the grocery store last week, and I didn’t think anything about it,” Maggie sighed and ran her hand through Peter’s hair, “I didn’t realize that I haven’t gone out in my armor since the Invasion.”

“You do look different as Sigyn,” Pepper said as she sat on the coffee table in front of Maggie, “I’m envious of the rainbow eyes in that form,” she teased.

Maggie rolled her currently blue/gray eyes and pulled at her dark chestnut hair in her Maggie form, “I’ll trade you,” She said, “hosting a celestial entity from before the creation of the Universe and having memories from generations of my ancestors, including my mother, is not all that.”

Pepper laughed, “I guess I don’t envy you, but I do know about being recognized. Being one of the few female CEOs and the CEO of an international tech conglomerate makes me stand out. Then add in being tied to Tony as his girlfriend puts me at almost an Avenger level of notoriety.”

Loki shuffled in and lay on the couch with his head on Maggie’s lap, wearing a pair of sweat pants and a loose t-shirt that said ‘Chaos and Destruction is My Thing’, “Let’s not do that again anytime soon, please,” he said, “I’m exhausted.”

Maggie hummed and ran her hand through his hair, “Do you remember that book that we found that discussed seiðr sharing? Was that on Asgard or Vanaheim?”

“Vanaheim,” Loki said, not opening his eyes, “but I have it somewhere…” he reached out and twisted his hand and a book appeared in his palm. Maggie grasped it and set it next to Pepper.

“Where did you get that t-shirt?” Pepper asked him. He opened an eye and looked up at her.

“I got him, Ned, and Peter each one after they encouraged DUM-E, U, and BUTTERFINGERS to spray me with the fire extinguisher every time I listened to AC/DC,” Tony said as he came upon the group. “Where’s Thor?”

Thor came out from the kitchen area with a bowl of food, “Getting nourishment,” he said as he sat on the other side of Peter, “I didn’t finish dinner.”

“That music is terrible and you needed to be taught with negative reinforcement,” Loki said, “your robots are ever so helpful.” He opened an eye again and grinned up at Tony who scowled back with his hands on his hips.

“We’re not sure when we’ll be back, but let JARVIS or FRIDAY know if you need us,” Pepper said as she pulled on a sweater and picked up a bag full of essentials for Happy.

Maggie, Peter, and Thor waved and they left. 

******

Happy’s surgery went well and the doctor assured Tony and Pepper that he would make a full recovery, despite the need for an induced coma. Tony had JARVIS hack in and send the reports to Doctor Strange, just to be sure, he trusted Strange’s analysis before some stranger’s. Pepper had gone home to get some sleep for her meetings tomorrow, so Tony settled in the armchair of the private room and put on _Downtown Abbey_. It was Happy’s favorite, he loved the costumes and the British accents, and Tony needed something to distract himself.

After a while, a nurse came in to check on his vitals. “Hi,” Tony said, startling her.

“Oh. Mr. Stark.”

“Hi. Do you mind leaving that on?” He saw that she had the remote in her hand.

“Sure.”

“ _Downtown Abbey_ , it’s his show,” Tony looked at the nurse and noticed her badge, “I need you to make sure everyone wears their badges, he’s a stickler for that sort of thing. Plus my guys won’t let anyone in without them.”

He stood up and went to leave, checking in with his guards at the door. He had been at the hospital for eight hours before JARVIS had notified him that he and FRIDAY had analyzed and compiled the data from their scans. He had to find who did this to his friend. His family. He went down to the first floor in the elevator and put on his sunglasses. Moving through the lobby and outside, he was bombarded by reporters.

“Mr. Stark! Mr. Stark! Our sources are telling us that this is another Mandarin attack! Anything else you can tell us?” He ignored them and moved towards the car that had been dropped off for him.

He felt a bump and he turned to glare at the man, “Hey! Mr. Stark! When is somebody gonna kill this guy?” Shoving his phone in Tony’s face making him livid at the man’s gall. The guy noticed and backed down, “Just sayin’.”

Pulling off his sunglasses, he stared the guy down, “Is that what you want? Here's a little Holiday greeting I've wanted to send to the Mandarin. I just didn't know how to phrase it until now. My name is Tony Stark and I'm not afraid of you. I know you're a coward, so I've decided that you just died, pal. I’m going to come to get the body. There’s no politics here, just good old-fashioned revenge. No Pentagon. Just you and me-.”

Maggie popped in right in front of him and put her hand over his mouth, “I’m sorry everyone, we were just leaving.” Shouting and shock rippled through the crowd of reporters as she pushed him into the passenger side and got in the driver’s seat.

“What the fuck Tony!” She yelled at him, “I know you’re angry but that was no way to behave!”

“How am I supposed to behave Maggie! My friend is in a coma, in the hospital, and this guy is going around blowing people up!”

“You have JARVIS and FRIDAY to find the guy and you have me, Rhodey, Thor, Loki, Steve, Bruce, and the rest of the Avengers to help you! You don’t have to be a one-man army!” She got on the PCH and shifted gears, speeding and weaving through late morning traffic, deftly maneuvering the Audi towards home.

“Maybe I want to be! Maybe I’m the only one who can fix this! No one else seems to be able to find this guy!”

“Well, we won’t let you! Stop being a selfish prick!” Silence filled the car. “I’m sorry,” Maggie said quietly, “I didn’t mean that. You are the least selfish person that I know and I understand your frustration and pain. **_Please_** let us help you. I don’t want to see you hurt because you wouldn’t let us help.”

Tony and Maggie drove in silence the rest of the drive home. She turned onto the driveway to the underground garage. Pulling in and parking, she turned off the car and neither of them moved to get out. “I love you. You are the brother I never had and I want you to know that we are here to help you, you just need to ask.” She handed him the keys and opened the door.

Tony caught her hand and stopped her, “I’m sorry. I love you too. Just let me analyze the data FRIDAY and JARVIS put together and then we’ll figure out what to do next. As a team.” He paused and swallowed, “as a family.” She leaned over and hugged him and he felt all the stress and anger and hatred lessen just a little bit. The weight felt easier to bear and he was suddenly so grateful for all the people in his life. Gods. People and gods in his life. Shit, who would have thought that when he had been an 18-year-old kid at MIT, with his parents dead, that he’d grow up to have such a huge mishmash family of people who loved him for **_who_** he was instead of **_what_** he was. First Rhodey and then Peter. Then Pepper and Happy. Then Maggie. Nat and Clint and the Asgardians. Even the Avengers were becoming integral parts. He still couldn’t believe Steve Rodgers, the man he had **_loathed_** for taking Howard away from him as a child, could be a friend that taught Pete art and cooked with Maggie.

She pulled back and smiled at him, “I’ll make your favorite dinner tonight and a pan of fudge brownies, all for yourself. You won’t have to share with Pete, Loki, or Thor but I can’t guarantee Pepper. She, as your girlfriend, has brownie rights,” she teased and Tony laughed.

“All I care about is that I don’t have to share with Loki. That asshole keeps taunting me with your baked goods and it’s driving me insane.”

“It’s because, as her husband, I technically own half of all she makes,” Loki said and Maggie scowled at him.

“As an independent person from my husband, I own full rights to my baked goods,” she got out of the car and pushed Loki back. “Don’t make me stab you,” she threatened as she left the garage. Loki smiled and looked a little too excited at the threat for Tony’s sanity.

“What do you want Reindeer Games,” Tony asked as he got out of the car and tossed the keys onto the nearest workbench heading towards the fridge in the corner.

“How is your friend?” Loki asked as he leaned against the counter in the kitchen area next to the fridge. Tony pulled out a bottle of water, handed it to him, and grabbed one for himself.

“Happy is ok, I have our family doctor taking a look at his charts just to make sure,” Tony said as he brought up the data his AIs had put together. The lab darkened and a wireframe of the Chinese Theatre filled the room.

“We’ve compiled a Mandarin database for you, Sir, drawn from SHIELD, FBI, and CIA intercepts. SHIELD took a little longer, due to Director Fury’s attempt at blocking us, but we were successful in getting through his new firewalls and server adjustments.”

“How did you manage that, J?” Tony asked as he pulled up the information.

“The creature known as Goose acquired a new collar the last time they visited,” FRIDAY’s voice rang out.

“You two didn’t!” Tony was a little shocked at their daring.

“We will neither confirm nor deny,” FRIDAY’S Irish voice said cheekily.

“Sir, Colonel Rhodes is here,” JARVIS said, “Shall I direct him down to the workshop?”

“Yeah, maybe he can fill in some blanks on why they haven’t caught this guy yet,” Tony said.

Loki walked around the wireframe looking at the different angles the bodies lay, “Was there anything from before the blast? The way people on this planet record each other, there has to be some sort of record from before the explosion.”

“Yes,” JARVIS replied, “We found footage from nearby security cameras and several uploads from tourists.” The footage re-wound and they saw how Happy intercepted a man with a briefcase and snatched up a vial that had fallen out. They watched the confrontation, Happy getting thrown, and then the explosion off camera. “Unfortunately we do not have footage of the bomb.”

“Can we catch what they’re saying?” Tony asked as he walked around Happy’s hologram.

“Just bits and pieces, Boss,” FRIDAY said, “There was no audio recording available, but we were able to read lips of the people facing the cameras.” The scene was re-done with the audio of what they had available.

“Hmm,” Loki watched the explosion.

“Hey Tones,” Rhodey came through the door and looked around at the scene, “Loki.” Loki nodded at him and continued to wander around the wireframe.

“Hey Rhodey,” Tony said as he pulled up his hologram interface, “Come to help?”

“Yeah,” He went over and stood next to Tony.

“Okay, what do we got here?” Tony flipped through videos of the broadcasts and pictures of the man, “His name is an ancient Chinese war mantle, meaning ‘adviser to the king’… South American insurgency tactics, talks like a Baptist preacher and there's lots of pageantry going on here...lots of theater…”

“The heat from the blast was in excess of 3,000 degrees Celsius so all subjects within a 12.5-yard radius were vaporized instantly,” FRIDAY announced as she flashed the data, highlighting the shadows on the walls of the theater. 

“This is classified, but this is the tenth bombing. The public only knows about four. Nobody can ID a device and with no bomb casings...,” Rhodey trailed off, his face troubled, “Just the shadows of the victims in the immediate area from the high-temperature explosion.”

“If this isn’t from off-world, what is it?” Loki asked. The three of them watched as the video played out again and then it picked up again from Tony’s suit. Happy was turned towards something, pointing.

“Talk to me Happy,” Tony approached his friend and noticed the dog tags on the ground. Loki and Rhodey stood next to him and watched as he brought them up in the air and JARVIS scanned them. “So what is a bomb that isn’t a bomb?” Tony muttered, “Any military victims, guys?”

“No, Boss,” FRIDAY said.

“Not according to public records, Sir,” JARVIS added.

“Bring up the thermogenic signatures again, factor in three thousand degrees,” Tony said as he waved his hand and the scene changed to a map of the United States.

“We have completed the analysis. Accessing satellites and plotting the last twelve months of thermogenic occurrences now,” FRIDAY said. They all stood back and watched as the map populated.

“Take away everything that was a confirmed Mandarin attack,” Tony looked at the listings and dismissed a few, “Nope,” he swiped through, “That. You sure that’s not one of his?”

“It predates any known Mandarin attack,” JARVIS highlighted the incident and brought up local news information, “It appears the incident was the use of a bomb to assist in a suicide.”

“The heat signature is similar, Boss,” FRIDAY chimed in.

“Rhodey?”

“Looks a little too much like the other attacks,” Rhodey said as he looked at his phone, “Shit. I’m being called in. Will you keep me updated on Happy?”

“Yeah, and I’ll pass on the information if we find anything in Tennessee,” Tony said as he waved the information away.

“Creating a flight plan for Tennessee,” JARVIS said as everything blinked away.

The doorbell rang and they all froze, “Are we expecting guests?” Loki asked as JARVIS brought up the footage from the front door.

“Why are we still at "ding-dong"? We're supposed to be on total security lockdown. Come on, I threatened a terrorist.” Tony peered at the person, “Who is that?”

“There's only so much I can do, Sir,” JARVIS said as they all scrambled up the stairs, Tony and Rhodey encased in suits and Loki his armor.

******

Maggie stood in front of the door and looked at the woman standing there, “Can I help you?”

“Right there’s fine,” Tony called out from behind her and she looked behind her to see him, Rhodey and Loki all in armor. “You're not the Mandarin, are you?”

“You don’t remember. Why am I not surprised?” The woman asked as she crossed her arms.

“Don’t take it personally, I don’t remember what I had for breakfast,” Tony said, his faceplate flipped up.

“You didn’t eat breakfast, you were at the hospital with Happy,” Maggie said as she moved back from the door.

“Oh. That’s right,” Tony said and Loki and Rhodey rolled their eyes.

“Ok, look. I need to be alone with you. Someplace not here, it’s urgent,” the woman said as she looked around at the people in the room, her eyes widening when Thor came out from the kitchen and stood next to Loki.

“Yeah, no,” Tony said as he moved closer, “We’re a little busy right now and I have a booked schedule.”

“Tony? Is somebody there?” Pepper called out from upstairs.

“Yeah, it's Maya Hansen. Old botanist pal that I used to know… barely,” He stepped out of his suit and moved past Maggie to whisper to Maya, “Please don't tell me that a twelve-year-old kid is waiting in the car that I've never met.”

“He’s thirteen, and no, I need your help,” Maya said as Pepper came down the stairs, Peter closely behind her.

“What for? Why now?” Tony asked as Rhodey moved towards the door to leave.

“I gotta go Tones, so if you have this handled I’m just going to borrow this,” Rhodey motioned to himself, still in the borrowed suit, “I’ll come back for my car later.”

“Don’t leave, Rhodey Bear,” Tony called out. Rhodey just waved and then blasted off, the echo of him going supersonic, rattling the windows. “No respect for other people’s suits,” Tony complained.

“I read the papers about this guy and frankly I don’t think you’ll last the week. You did threaten the Mandarin,” Maya interrupted Tony’s grumbling.

“We’ll be fine,” Tony turned back to Maya, “I have three gods and a Pepper, so I’m good!”

“I’m sorry,” Pepper said as she came down and stood next to Tony. Maggie moved towards Loki and Thor, pulling Peter with her. “With Happy in the hospital, I didn’t know we were expecting guests...”

“We weren’t,” Tony said.

“…Or old girlfriends,” Pepper finished grumpily.

Loki laughed at Tony digging himself a deeper hole with Pepper, so Maggie swatted him, “Stop it! I need you to focus! Something isn’t right.”

Peter just looked worriedly over at Pepper, Tony, and Maya bickering before he looked up at Maggie, “What is going on, Mags?”

“I’m not sure…” She tried to ignore the bickering while searching the room for what was bothering her. She turned and looked at the TV that had been left on the news channel from earlier when Tony was at the hospital. **_Breaking News_** flashed on the screen and suddenly their house was being shown, helicopters were circling and others were heading towards the seaside mansion, “What the…?” She squinted and then panicked. She pushed Peter into Loki’s arms and sent Peter, Loki, and Thor to their living room in the Tower. Space reacted and teleported her right to Pepper’s side. Right before she could send her to the Tower, the house exploded.

*****

In the milliseconds before the explosion, Tony registered Maggie sending Peter off with Loki and Thor, then her teleporting next to Pepper.

Then everything exploded.

Reacting, on instinct he managed to send his suit to wrap around Pepper as he was thrown across the room, losing sight of Maggie and Maya. He must have blacked out because the next thing he registered was Pepper holding debris up over his head in his suit.

“I got you,” Pepper said as she held the ceiling up, “JARVIS said that Peter, Loki, and Thor made it out before the explosion but he and FRIDAY don’t know where Maggie is.”

“We got her, Boss,” FRIDAY’s voice came from the suit, “We freed Hammerhead from storage before the second collapse and we’re sending it to recover her from the water. She was blown out to sea.”

“Oh god!” Tony yelled over the bombardment, relieved that Peter wasn’t in this mess. They moved towards Maya and the hole that used to be the front door when suddenly the floor collapsed. Pepper managed to fly in the suit to the side closest to the door, but Tony was stranded on the ocean side. “Get her, I’ll find a way around!” Seeing Pepper hesitate he yelled at her, “Stop stopping! Get her, get outside! Go!” Pepper finally moved and flew out of the house.

The helicopters kept bombing the house and Tony grasped at the rubble to prevent himself from being pulled down into the abyss below him. “Sir, Ms. Potts is clear of the structure.”

“Then send it back, JARVIS!” Tony yelled as he pulled at a cable. The suit flew back to him and encased him right before the cable let go and he plummeted to the dark pit below that was quickly filling with water. Struggling to fly out, the suit’s repulsor sputtered and spit, dropping him quickly further into the depths of the collapsing house.

Suddenly a glow lit up everything. The bombings and explosions picked up and the ping of heavy artillery fire started up outside. “Where’s my flight power, guys!” Tony yelled at his AIs before his head dipped below the water and his suit quickly filled with water.

*****

Maggie had woken in a suit. **Again.** This had to stop happening, she told herself before she had the AI’s let her out. Channeling The Mother’s powers she floated above the ocean, equal in height to the helicopters that had destroyed their home. Shifting to her full battle armor and wishing she had the Scepter, she started blasting the helicopters with her seiðr. Reacting, they shot at her with the rail guns while bombarding the house. The bullets just bounced off the shield that she had encased herself with. They wouldn’t harm her anyways, but she wasn’t taking any chances.

The guns spun and ran out of bullets and she smiled a fierce grin, all teeth. “My turn, boys,” she taunted, using her seiðr to amplifying her voice so they could hear it over the helicopter’s rotors and their comms.

She allowed The Mother to take over.

Space encased her in blue light from their spot between her breasts, her gold markings wove over her skin, Sigyn’s eyes blazed white and her hair wafted around her.

**_How dare they_**! The Mother shouted, showing no mercy for the ones who would harm her family. With a wave of her arms and a blazing flash of light, The Mother deposited them into the black of space, near enough to Earth’s sun that they would be pulled in by its gravity and annihilated.

*****

Pepper watched as Maggie went from glowy to normal again. She floated down to the edge of the cliff and suddenly Loki was there, clutching her in his arms.

“Where’s Peter?” Pepper asked as she approached the pair.

“He’s fine, I left him with Thor and Banner at the Tower before coming back to assist. Instead, I find my wife over-exerting herself. Again.” Loki sighed as Maggie blinked up from his arms.

“Why are you here, Maya?” Pepper confronted the woman, “What is so important that you had to speak to Tony.”

“I think my boss is working for the Mandarin,” She said bluntly.

“And why couldn’t you have led with that?” Loki snapped before focusing back on a groaning Maggie.

“Your boss works for the Mandarin, you think? But Tony says you're a botanist, so...” Pepper trailed off, doubt coloring her words.

“That figures. What I actually am is a biological DNA coder running a team of forty out of a privately-funded think tank, but sure you can call me a botanist,” Maya said sarcastically to Pepper as they watched Loki hover over Maggie, “She going to be ok?”

“This boss of yours, does he have a name?” Pepper asked harshly, ignoring the question.

“Yeah. Aldrich Killian.”

“Shit,” Maggie’s voice rang out, “Really? The Smarmy Armani?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So they tracked Tony down by either following him back home or just logically finding people who knew where he lived. I figured that tons of people had gone to his Malibu mansion in his playboy days and knew about it, so it's not a stretch to figure that he was easily found.


	2. Stealing Ponchos and Freezing the Enemy

Tony woke to an alarm beeping, “I’m up! I’m up! Don’t give me decaf!” Tony mumbled.

“Sir. Sir!” JARVIS shouted at him.

“Alright, kill the alarm. I’m up.”

“That's the emergency alert triggered by the power dropping below five percent, Sir,” JARVIS said right before Tony opened his eyes and took in his HUD and the glimpse of snow before crashing. Trees, too many trees! Road! He skidded across the road and then across an empty field before stopping.

“Ughh, please tell me we’re upstate…” Tony lay in the suit on his back, trying to reorient himself, “It’s snowing? It’s snowing, right? Where are we JARVIS?”

“We’re five miles outside of Rose Hill, Tennessee,” His AI answered, it was just JARVIS for some reason. The suit must be on backup power if he wasn’t connecting to the satellites and his AIs’ complete processing powers.

“Why!? JARVIS! What are we doing here?! This is thousands of miles away and I gotta get Pepper… What about Mags? I gotta….”

“I… I think I may be malfunctioning, Sir,” JARVIS stuttered and his HUD started to flicker.

“Open. Eject, J.” The suit opened and the snow sizzled on the warm skin of his bare arms, “That’s brisk! Maybe I’ll just cozy back up for a bit.”

“I think I need to sleep now, Sir.” The suit’s eyes flashed and then went out.

“JARVIS? JARVIS? Don’t leave me, buddy,” Tony pleaded. Sighing he got up and looked around him. No lights, no cars, just darkness. “Shit.”

Tony managed to drag the suit through the snow while following the road for a few miles, the weight of the suit and the effort of dragging it, barely kept him warm in the below-freezing weather. A sodium-vapor lamp illuminated the Texaco sign at the small gas station just outside the small town. The Christmas lights around the window twinkled with the wind and the phone booth (those exist yet?) was a beacon at the end of the dark road. Dragging the suit closer, he left it just outside the phone booth before he stole the wool poncho off the wooden statue. He wiggled into the phone booth, pulled out his pocket knife, pried open the casing on the phone, and started to sort through the wires. Twisting a few of the wires, he rewired the phone before putting it back together again. Lifting the handset to his ear, he toggled the plunger to check the dial tone before he dialed in the number for his private server and entered a code.

“Stark Secure Server,” an automated voice spoke.

“FRIDAY, I know that’s you,” Tony sighed, “Stop pretending to be Siri.”

“Boss!” FRIDAY’s worried voice came over the phone, “I’m tracking your location now. JARVIS and I lost contact with the suit two hours ago after we pulled you from the ocean and the suit went auto. Soon after that and we lost tracking abilities.”

“I need you to record a message for Pepper and send me a new suit,” Tony sighed and pulled at his hair.

“New suit sent,” FRIDAY said cheerily. He had to look at her code and maybe scale her back a little, she was way too excited. “Recording starting whenever you’re ready, Boss!” Tony rolled his eyes at the AI’s exuberance.

“Pepper, it’s me. I've got a lot of apologies to make and not a lot of time. So first off, I’m sorry that I put you and Peter in harms’ way. It was stupid and selfish of me and it won’t happen again, you can have Maggie give me decaf for a year for blowing up at the hospital. Also, it's Christmas time, the rabbit's too big. Done. Sorry. And I'm sorry in advance because...I can't come home yet. I need to find this guy. You gotta stay safe. That's all I know. I just stole a poncho from a wooden Indian,” He looked down at the scratchy wool poncho, “I’ll have to get him a jacket to make up for it. Tell Mags thanks for getting Peter out of there and to keep him safe. I love you, Pep.”

“Transmitted Boss,” FRIDAY’s voice came over the receiver, “Mark 33 and two Bots were deployed to collect the Mark 42.”

“Where’s JARVIS, FRI?” Tony asked as he shivered and pulled the poncho closer.

“He’s managing cleanup at the Malibu Mansion, coordinating with SI public relations and managing the Tower-“

“It's fine, FRI,” Tony interrupted, “Nevermind. I gotta go.”

“Bye Boss!”

He hung up and sagged against the glass of the phone booth, “Who the hell has a phone booth anymore?” Tony muttered before he pulled the door open and looked down at the dead suit. “Come on, bud. Let’s see if we can get you up and running enough that I can use you as a homing beacon for JARVIS and FRIDAY.”

He dragged the suit down the road, looking for a garage or shop that he could borrow some tools for a bit.

*******

Pepper sent Maggie back to the Tower with Loki and she stayed to deal with the police and Emergency Services that had responded to the bombing of their Malibu home. Sighing she struggled with the thought that Tony may be dead, trying to reassure herself that he wasn’t. There was no body found and FRIDAY and JARVIS had both assured her that his latest suit had escaped the wreckage with him in it before Maggie had disposed of their attackers. Pepper wandered the site, accessing the damages and sorting through the debris for anything salvageable. Coming across a shattered Iron Man helmet, she picked it up and put her forehead against the helmets’. Sighing she blinked. There was a red light flashing on the inside. Turning it around she brought it up to her face.

“Stark Secure Server. Retinal scan….” A female computer voice intoned, “Verified! Virginia ‘Pepper’ Potts,” the computer voice changed to FRIDAY’S, “transmitting message….”

“Pepper, it’s me,” Tony’s voice came from the helmet’s speakers, “I've got a lot of apologies to make and not a lot of time…”

She listened to the whole message before the helmet went dead in her hands and she sighed. Tucking it under her arm, she dug out her spare phone. Loki had gotten it from the Tower for her, “Maggie, Tony is alive and I need your help.”

*****

Tony found a garage, dragged in his suit, and sat on the threadbare couch, “Ugh buddy, you could use to lose a few,” he muttered at his suit. Sighing he got up and started digging through the bench and the toolbox, looking for tools. Finding what he needed, he dragged the old battery charger over to the bench and started to clear it off. Just as he was about to adjust the lamp so he could drag the suit over to the work area, a kid slammed through the door armed with a potato gun, of all things.

“Freeze! Don’t Move!”

“You got me. Nice potato gun. The barrel’s a little long. Between that and the wide gauge, it’s gonna diminish the FPS,” Tony criticized as he sat down on the chair behind him. The kid shot at him and hit the glass on the shelf behind him. “And now you’re out of ammo.”

“What’s that thing on your chest?” The kid kept his gun pointed at him, despite being out of ammo. 

“It’s an electromagnet. You should know since you have a whole box of them.” Tony crossed his arms and studied the kid. He had to be around Peter’s age and it seemed strange that he would come to investigate the garage instead of some adult. He also looked a little too young to have a job that kept him out this late after dark. He knew that Maggie would have his ass if Peter was out after dark alone, even if they lived in Small Town USA and Peter wasn’t the kid of one of the most recognizable people in the world.

“What does it power?” The kid looked at him suspiciously.

Tony stood up, swiveled the light to shine on the suit, and moved over so the kid could see, “That.”

“OH MY GOD!” The kid dropped the gun in the empty newspaper delivery bag he was wearing, shrugged it off, and left it on the floor before running over to the suit, “oh my god! That’s…that’s that Iron Man?” The kid looked excited as he knelt by the suit on the couch and started playing with the helmet and poking at the suit.

“Well, technically I am. But yeah, kid.”

“Technically you’re dead,” The kid said before he pulled a newspaper from his coat and tossed it at him. Tony caught it, opened it, and saw the headline **'Mandarin Attack: Stark Presumed Dead’**.

“Huh. A guess you have a point, kid.”

“What happened to him?” The kid started playing with the suit’s arm.

“Some really bad guys decided to bomb my house while my family and I were in it. He took some hits so I didn’t have to and now I need to fix him up so my AI’s can come to get me. I built him, I take care of him, and I’ll fix him.” The kid was curious like Peter and seemed to be inspecting the suit and as he watched, the kid flipped open a panel and started rooting around in it. “Hey! Don’t do that!”

The kid smiled cheekily at him, “So like a mechanic? You’re gonna fix him?”

“Yeah.” Tony sighed, the kid was still digging in the panel, “You remind me of my kid,” Tony said as he went over and took the kid’s hands out of the suit.

“If **_I_** was building Iron Man and War Machine….”

“It’s Iron Patriot now,” Tony corrected.

“That’s way cooler!” The kid looked way too excited and was still playing with his suit.

Tony shook his head, “No, it’s not. His paint job is ridiculous and he looks like War Machine had a baby with Captain America.”

“Anyways, I would have added in um... the retro… retro…”

“Retroreflective panels?”

“Yeah! To make him stealth mode.”

“You want a stealth mode?” Tony asked. Well, maybe the kid would get his wish because he was sure that FRIDAY was sending two Black Stealth Suits (an upgraded Sneaky dubbed Nightclub) to pick up this suit and The Silver Centurion (a suit that had pulse cannons that did long-distance damage and a slight protective force field) for him.

“Cool, right?” The kid was so excited and Tony was again reminded of Peter. This kid seemed just as smart and full of ideas.

“Very cool and I have a feeling that you’ll get to see that sooner than you think, kid.”

The kid broke off the suit’s finger, “OOPS! S..sorry,” The kid didn’t look too sorry.

Tony sighed and rubbed his temples and the kid smiled sheepishly up at him and then started playing with the severed suit finger.

“Are you? Don’t worry about it, I’ll fix it. So, who’s home?” Tony was curious about where this kid’s parents were.

“Well, my mom already left for the diner and dad went to 7-Eleven to get scratchers. I... I guess he won, 'cause that was six years ago,” the kid wouldn’t look up at him and continued to play with the finger.

Tony tried to ignore the anger and the reminder of his own childhood parental bullshit, so he changed the subject, “I need help with the suit and my usual kid genius assistant is not here. So there’s an immediate opening, you want it?”

“Yeah, I want it.” The kid stood up and handed him the finger,” But what’s in it for me?”

“What’s your name kid?” Tony took the finger and pocketed it.

“Harley. And you’re….?

“The Mechanic. Tony. You help me out, I’ll help you with your bully and into a better school. My usual assistant could use a new classmate and friend.”

The kid seemed to think this over, “who’s your usual assistant and where’s this better school?”

“My kid is my usual assistant and the school is in New York. It’s a school for mini-geniuses and I have a feeling you could easily get in. I cover the cost and you get to come home on weekends. So we gotta deal? What’d you say?”

“Deal.”

They shook hands and Tony readjusted the lamp and moved the chair. “So I need help getting the suit on the bench and then we’re gonna charge him up with that battery charger over there and then see if I can get JARVIS up and running again. But first I need you to find me a laptop, a digital watch, a cell phone, the pneumatic actuator from your bazooka, a map of the town, a big spring, and a tuna fish sandwich.”

A few hours later they had the suit charging and Tony was getting a tour of the town from Harley. His knee was killing him and he was limping slightly. _Come on body, we gotta investigate, and then we can let the new suit do all the work_ , he told himself. “The sandwich was fair, the spring a little rusty, the rest of the materials, I’ll make do. Good job kid for the quick work, but when you said your sister had a watch, I was kinda hoping for something a little more adult than this,” Tony pulled up his sleeve and looked at the Dora the Explorer watch.

Harley laughed, “She’s six! Anyway, it’s a limited edition. When can we talk about your kid? What are they like? What’s so special about that school? And what’s Sigyn like? She has these cool powers like…like… Star Wars! Does she have The Force?!”

“Whoa! Slow down, kid!” Tony shook his head. Star Wars? He and Pete were going to get on like a house on fire if Harley was obsessed with Star Wars as much as his kid was. “Peter loves Star Wars, hot cocoa, cookies, Maggie and then me, in that order. He’s smart….” Tony stopped before he could brag too much, “The school is a STEM school and its science orientated and it’s full of smart kids that love to learn. And Maggie or Sigyn does have awesome Star Wars-like abilities, and the jury’s out on The Force. She also makes awesome cookies and other baked goods. Just don’t let her adopt you,” Tony teased, “She comes with a tall dark, and grumpy named Loki who steals all my cookies.”

“Huh.” The kid seemed to be absorbing the information, “it’d be worth it for lots of cookies. I’m sure mom wouldn’t mind the help dealing with me,” Harley said as they came across an area lit in candles, decorated in snow and frost covered flowers and mementos, shadows of people on the walls, and a small crater in the concrete. It was scarily similar to the Chinese Theatre where Happy had been hurt.

“What’s the official story here? What happened?” Tony asked the kid as he inspected the shadows and circled the crater. Harley stepped into the crater and sat down on the edge.

“I guess this guy named Chad Davis, used to live roundabouts, won a bunch of medals in the army. One day, folks said he went crazy and made, you know, a bomb. Then he blew himself up right here.”

“Six people died, right?”

“Yeah,” the kid wiped his nose and watched as Tony circled around the site.

“Including Chad Davis?”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah, that doesn’t make sense,” Tony went and sat next to Harley, “Think about it. Six dead, only five shadows.”

“Yeah, people said these shadows are like the mark of souls gone to heaven. Except for the bomb guy, he went to hell on account of he didn't get a shadow. That's why there's only five,” the kid said and wiped his nose again on his sleeve.

“Do you buy that?”

“That’s what everyone says. You know what this crater reminds me of?”

“No idea,” Tony said as he pulled off his hat and scratched his head. He was frustrated that he was stuck in the middle of nowhere with no resources and his suit wasn’t charging like it was supposed to.

“That giant wormhole, in Ummm in New York. Does it remind you?”

“It doesn’t actually,” Maggie’s voice came from behind them, “It reminds me of that time that Peter and Tony were trying to launch the rocket, that they had made last summer, and it blew a crater in the concrete instead of launching.”

“Whoa! You’re Sigyn!” Harley jumped up and ran up to Maggie and then stopped suddenly when he saw Loki behind her, “Tony, you’re right. He is tall, dark, and grumpy.” Harley said cheekily back at Tony.

“Only when he doesn’t get cookies,” Maggie said as she ruffled Harley’s hair. “Please call me Maggie,” she said. She was dressed in jeans, black leather knee boots, and a knee-length wool coat with an oversized crocheted scarf in forest green. Loki was dressed in black jeans, motorcycle boots, a leather jacket, and a hoodie with the hood up over a stocking hat. He and Maggie had on matching forest green crocheted hats, which was such a couple thing that Tony had to laugh at.

“I see you’ve embraced the couple matching thing,” Tony teased, “You two look adorable with matching hats and outfits.”

“Yeah, well you and Pepper do it too, along with Peter, so you can’t judge,” Maggie said as she inspected Harley. She zipped up his sweater and then his coat, “do you have gloves, kid?” She looked at Harley’s bare hands and head.

“No, Ma’am. I lost one last week and mom said she’ll get me some next week when she gets paid,” Harley said and shrugged his shoulders like it wasn’t a big deal.

Maggie shook her head and manifested some gloves, “Here, hold out your hands,” She slipped the gloves on the kid and then manifested a hat and a scarf and bundled him up. “There, all cozy.” She smiled and the kid melted.

“Thanks,” He muttered into the scarf.

“You looking to adopt kid number two?” Tony teased her again.

“Shut it,” Loki said as he typed on his phone, “one is enough for now, but you look like you’re in the market for another.” He snapped a picture of Tony in his ‘casual’ wear of a ball cap, flannel, jeans, and borrowed Carhartt jacket. The poncho hadn’t worked out. “This is perfect,” Loki muttered as he typed.

“Loki, if you post that I will stab you and make you spend time with Darcy when she comes next. I know she will want to discuss the latest Thor and Jane shenanigans and we all know how much you _love_ to hear about _that_ ,” Maggie threatened as she held out her hand for the phone. “You know that we are letting Tony be ‘dead’ until we can find this Mandarin.”

“Harsh,” Harley said as he watched the drama.

“Agreed,” Loki said as he handed off the phone, but as soon as Maggie turned her back, he pulled out another. She flipped out a knife and threw it at him. He caught it and put the second phone away, “You're always spoiling my fun.”

“Really? Always?” Maggie smirked at him.

“Ewww,” Tony complained, “There are young children present,” he covered Harley’s ears. “Okay, back to business. Where were we? The guy who died...relatives? Mom? Mrs. Davis, where is she?” He asked the kid, after uncovering his ears.

“Where she always is,” Harley answered.

“And where is that?” Maggie asked as she looked over at Loki inspecting the shadows of the victims and muttering to himself.

Harley told them about the bar and Tony sent him back to the garage to check on the suit with a spare Starkphone.

Tony popped in the familiar comm, which Maggie had handed him, along with his spare phone from the Tower, "hello, Sir,” JARVIS’s voice came through.

“Boss, we have sent the suits to Young Harley's garage,” FRIDAY’S voice informed him right after, "He appears to love the stealth suits, but requests that you need some red highlights.

“Really? Whatever.... hey guys, good job. How’s Peter, how’s Pepper?”

“Master Peter is safe in New York at the Tower and Ms. Pepper is currently en-route to a hotel in Malibu with Maya Hansen,” JARVIS replied.

“Ok, thanks guys,” Tony said as he made his way with Loki and Maggie to the bar that Harley had told them Mrs. Davis was every night.

They walked through the busy town, “This is weird,” Maggie said, “despite it being six on a weekend, there seems to be way too many people out and about in this small town.”

“I wouldn’t know,” Tony said and Loki shrugged, it’s not like he would know about Earth’s small towns.

Tony bumped into a woman and handed back her wallet right in front of the bar and Loki teased him for being blinded by his ugly clothes. Tony had shoved Loki and Maggie just ignored them and went into the bar without them. She went up to the bar and stood in the free spot next to the local sheriff and waved to the bartender.

“I’d like a cranberry and vodka, please,” She ordered and then settled in next to the armed man, “I was looking for an old friend of my mom’s. Do you know a Mrs. Davis?”

“Yeah,” the Sherriff replied, “she’s over there.”

“She likes vodka straight on the rocks,” the bartender said as they placed her drink on the bar and Maggie slid him a twenty.

“I’ll take one of those too, please,” she said as she smiled at him. The guy smiled back and then flinched, looking behind her. She turned and saw Loki looking menacing with an amused Tony behind him. “Oh, that’s just my brother and husband,” she reassured the bartender. “What would you guys like?” She asked the pair and slid another twenty to the bartender before collecting Mrs. Davis’ drink and getting up. They ordered and she made her way to the table with the middle-aged woman.

“Mrs. Davis? May I sit with you?” Maggie asked as she set the woman’s drink next to her empty glass.

“Free country,” the woman said as she pulled the glass towards herself and sipped it.

“It would seem,” Maggie replied wryly, “would you mind if my husband and brother join us?”

The woman shrugged and studied Maggie, “Alright.”

They sipped their drinks for a few minutes before Tony and Loki sat down. “I’m sorry for your loss, Mrs. Davis,” Maggie said.

“Look. I brought your damn file. Just take it and go,” she said as she tossed the file at Maggie just as Tony and Loki sat down. Tony caught it and flipped open the file. “Whatever is in there, he wanted no part of it,” Mrs. Davis said harshly as she threw back the rest of her drink.

“Clearly, you’re waiting for someone else,” Tony said as he read through the file, “You were supposed to meet somebody here?”

“Yeah,” Mrs. Davis said as she sipped at the drink that Loki had brought her.

“Mrs. Davis, your son didn’t kill himself,” Tony closed the file and looked straight into her eyes, “I guarantee you, he didn’t kill anyone. Someone used him.”

“What?” The woman said hoarsely, the drink slipped the few inches from her hand to the table with a clank of glass and ice.

“He was used as a weapon,” Loki said as he slid the glass back from her shaking hands. “He was the first of many.”

“You are not the person who called me,” Mrs. Davis accused Maggie shakily.

A hand slammed on the table between Tony and Mrs. Davis, “No. That would be me.” It was the woman that Tony had bumped into outside. She twisted Tony’s arm behind his back and before she could slam him into the table, Maggie kicked her leg out from under her and flipped her away from Tony and onto the floor.

“Hey! What’s this all about? What the hell is going on here?” The Sheriff got up, adjusted his belt, and looked down at Maggie sitting on the woman.

“I’m here to arrest this man,” the woman on the floor said. Maggie pulled out the woman’s wallet.

“Hmmm, Ellen Brandt. Homeland Security? Really?” Maggie peered at the badge, “It’s fake, I think. What do you think guys?” She asked as Brandt struggled underneath her. “I’m over three hundred pounds in this body, Ms. Brandt, good luck getting up.” Brandt started to heat up while swearing and struggling. Loki came over and froze her in a block of ice and then helped Maggie to her feet.

“That should hold her,” He said and Maggie waved her hands and Ice Brant was stood up. The woman was glowing within her confines, but Loki reached out and added a thicker layer. “Maybe not…. We’ll have to take her outside and then I can use the Casket and then she’ll not be a problem.” He looked a bit too gleeful at that.

“Who are you guys?” The sheriff asked.

“I’m Maggie, this is Loki and Tony,” She said with a smile, “We’re investigating a string of explosions including Mrs. Davis’ son. We believe that his death was not a suicide,” She said more seriously. “This woman appears to be connected and we’re going to take her off your hands if that’s ok.”

“You’re the Avengers.” The sheriff stated, “Thought you were dead,” he looked at Tony.

“Yeah, it happens every few years,” Tony joked and deflected.

“That’s fine,” he said as he waved at them and turned back to his drink. The rest of the bar’s patrons stood frozen and stared at them.

“We will let you know what happens, Mrs. Davis,” Maggie said as she shook the shocked woman’s hand, “Again, I’m sorry for your loss.” Tony nodded at her and Loki started to float Brant out of the bar.

“J? FRI? Can you wipe all electronics?” Tony asked quietly as they made their way outside, the folder under his arm.

“Already done, Boss,” FRIDAY’S voice came over his comm.

“Good job,” Tony praised just as they were surrounded by a group of glowy people, “Any ideas on this?”

Loki twisted his hands and the Casket of Ancient Winters appeared and he blasted all but one of the people with it. It was like a really messed up ice sculpture garden. People were running and screaming and Maggie was laughing at the chaos as she chased after and dodged fire blasts from the last person.

“Oh, I’ve missed this,” She said, “Run puny mortals, we’re only trying to protect you,” she shouted at the people.

“Channeling me?” Loki teased, he now had blue skin and red eyes that contrasted with his black and green armor. To be honest, it freaked Tony out a little. Speaking of Star Wars, it was like seeing a Chiss in real life.

“FRIDAY? Wipe all phones, cameras, and recording devices in a three-mile radius,” Tony suggested, “Maggie and Loki are putting on a bigger show than I usually do. And I don’t want to have Pepper explain all of this.”

“Done!” FRIDAY chirped.

Maggie stabbed the last person with her sword and Loki froze them. “So what do we do with them?” Loki asked as he twisted the Casket back into his pocket dimension and shifted back to his Asgardian form.

“The same place The Mother put the last people who messed with us,” she said with a smirk. She closed her eyes, rose off the ground, glowed blue and all the frozen people disappeared in a flash of light and a wave of her hands. She shifted back and brushed her hands as she landed back on the ground.

Suddenly she was grabbed by the molten arms of Brandt who must have melted through the ice block Loki had put her in, “Now, where’s that file?” She asked menacingly.

“Really? That’s all?” Maggie asked as she flipped the woman over her, flipped out her sword, and cut the woman’s head off.

“Freaking hell!” Tony exclaimed.

“I’m really hating these people,” Maggie said as she put her sword back and changed back into her civilian clothes.

Tony’s new suit landed with a clank in the Iron Man crouch, “Sir, we have a problem.”

“What is it JARVIS?”

“Ms. Potts has been taken.”

“How?”

“Aldrich Killian has taken her,” JARVIS said.

******

The President made the phone call so Rhodey went out to search for The Mandarin in Pakistan. He busted through the door, “Don't move!” he shouted just when his phone rang, “Uh... Hang on a second. Hello?”

“You ever have a chick bashing on you and you look up and suddenly she's glowing from the inside out, kind of a bright orange?”

Rhodey had done several sword training sessions with Maggie and she often glowed blue, “Yeah, I've had something like that. Who is this?”

“It’s me Rhodey Bear. Now, last time I went missing if I remember correctly, you came looking for me. What are you doing?”

“A little knock-and-talk, making friends in Pakistan. What are you doing?”

“Your redesign, your big rebrand, that was AIM, right?”

“Yeah.”

“I thought you said you wouldn’t allow anyone but me to touch your suit after the Hammeroids?” Tony chided, “I need your login so I can login to the system and try and sort through this.”

“Yeah… well, I had no choice. Anyways my login, it's the same as it's always been, WarMachine68.”

“And password, please.”

“Well, look, I gotta change it every time you hack in, Tony.”

“It's not the '80s, nobody says "hack" anymore. Give me your login.” Rhodey sighed.

“Really Tony? You said hack three weeks ago when Peter and Ned hacked into FRIDAY so she would refer to you as ‘Old Man’,” Maggie’s voice came from the background.

"WAR MACHINE ROX, with an "X," all caps,” the guy in the room laughed and his gun pointed itself at him, “Hey Maggie!”

“That is so much better than ‘Iron Patriot’,” Tony said.

“Hey Rhodey,” came from the background.

“Love you Rhodey Bear, I’ll see you soon,” Tony said before he hung up on him.

Rhodey sighed and flew back to base.

*****

They were in the car that Ellen Brandt had driven to Rose Hill, Tony sat in the back looking through the file. Maggie drove while Loki tapped on his phone and played with the radio.

“Looks like Thor fed Peter a ton of Pop-Tarts and then put him to bed after he crashed,” Loki said and showed her a picture of Peter lying on the couch surrounded by empty Pop-Tart boxes.

“Really?” Maggie sighed and pretended to bash her head on the steering wheel.

“Mags, I need a satellite hookup so I can hack into AIM,” Tony said from the backseat, “My phone doesn’t have the capabilities.”

They were driving through Chattanooga when they saw a beauty pageant, slowing down Maggie pulled into the parking lot. “I’m staying here,” she said as she put the car into park. “You two go on.”

Loki and Tony, still in their disguises, made their way towards one of the news vans. A guy with a ball cap was on the phone with his mom arguing about his DVR. He stood off to the side of his news van, his back to the vehicle, while Tony and Loki crawled unnoticed in the back. Just as Tony was checking the internet speeds, the door opened and Loki grabbed the guy by the front of his jacket, pulled him into the van, and tied him up. “Why does he look like a knock-off version of you?” Loki asked Tony.

The guy cried out in excitement, “I knew you were still alive!”

“Please stop,” Loki moaned.

Tony turned around and inspected the guy, “Yeah, that’s… um… flattering…?” Tony tried to not roll his eyes.

“Oh, wow… Can I just say, sir… I’m your biggest fan!” The guy bounced in the seat he was tied to.

“Okay, first, is this your van? Is anyone else gonna come in?” Tony asked his ‘look-alike’.

“No, no, no, just us!” The guy was way too excited.

“Great, what’s your name?”

“Gary!”

Loki rolled his eyes at the guy and pulled a rag from the shelf next to him and went to put it in his mouth. Tony shook his head at Loki and he pouted. Tony got up from the chair and grabbed some tools, “I need to get on the roof and fix the internet speed. Stay here and keep an eye on Gary.”

“Please don’t leave me here with this imbecile,” Loki hissed at Tony, “I will not be responsible for any random holes that appear on him.”

“Then put a spell on him or something, I don’t want to tell Mags that you couldn’t control yourself for five minutes because some guy wouldn’t stop talking,” Tony took not-Tony’s hat and went out and crawled out and up the van, finagled some things and then came back down. Getting back in, he logged into AIM’s database and started to scour through the files.

“You took your time,” Loki complained as he poked a now silent Gary. “This man is a strikingly bad copy of you, Anthony.”

“Shut it, Reindeer Games. I’m trying to listen to this,” Tony hissed and rewound the footage. It was interviews of the volunteers and then he started watching them get injected with the Extremis serum. They glowed, they screamed, and then one started to overload. “A bomb is not a bomb when it's a misfire. The stuff doesn't always work. Right, pal? It's faulty, but you found a buyer, didn't you? Sold it to the Mandarin. Got you, pal,” Tony muttered.

Tony hooked his phone up to the computer, “JARVIS. FRIDAY, I need you guys to get copies of all of this and start analyzing and factoring in available AIM downlink facilities, you may be able to pinpoint the Mandarin's broadcast signal.”

“Ok, boss,” FRIDAY’S voice came from his comm.

“Sir, there’s a problem,” JARVIS stated worriedly.

“What is it J?” Tony asked as he looked over at a frozen Loki and a curious Gary.

“Ms. Maggie is currently being taken. They shocked her with a high voltage taser and they loaded her into a van and took off.”

Loki flashed an angry blue with red eyes and Tony panicked, “How? With her powers, it should be impossible!”

“I believe she is playing possum. Since Ms. Potts was taken by Aldrich Killian and AIM, Ma’am thought it prudent to go along with the kidnapping to lead you two to Ms. Potts and The Mandarin.”

Loki was swearing in another language and the whole van was now freezing, frost crept up the electronics.

“Are you guys done? Loki is going to freeze this and us in the next few seconds…” Tony eyed the god.

“Yes, Boss!” Friday’s voice came from his phone, “Pull the cord, we’re all done!”

Tony yanked the cord and eyed Loki, “Let’s go Popsicle, we’ll go check out the car and then start tracking Mags.”

Loki clenched his teeth, reached out, and teleported them right in front of their burned-out car. It had been parked in the far corner of the parking lot, but now people swarmed around it, drawn by the spectacle. They all backed up in shock and started to record them, “FRI? J? Let’s wipe some phones again,” Tony suggested with a sigh as he peered through the broken windows. He grabbed what stuff was left and went back to Loki. Before he could say anything, Loki flashed them to the Tower common room.

“Brother! What is going on? Where is Sigyn?” Thor asked as he rushed up to them quickly followed by a sleep tousled Peter.

“Paramatar,” Loki said, “It’s just like Paramatar.”

Thor flinched and his hammer flew into his hand, “She used herself as bait in order for us to track down the source?”

“Yes,” Loki sat heavily on the sofa. He flung his hat on the table and unzipped his jacket and hoodie, “Stark, please tell me you put a tracking device on Sigyn.”

Suddenly Bruce appeared from around the corner, where the kitchen was, “What’s going on?”

“Mags been taken,” Tony said.

“She had one, but it broke last week,” Peter said sadly as he settled on the couch next to Loki and leaned into him. Loki put his arm around him in comfort. “The chain broke and I was going to go with her to get a new one, but we never got there.”

Tony sat down next to Peter and took his hand, “It’s ok, bud.”

“We can track her like we did the Tesseract,” Bruce stated as he sat in the chair across from them, “She puts out more energy than the Tesseract, so it should make it a little easier.”

“Not if she’s in her mortal form,” Thor said as he eyed his frustrated brother, who was trying to remain calm for Peter.

“Sir, we’ve tracked the broadcasts,” JARVIS’s voice interrupted.

“Where are we talking? Far East, Europe, North Africa, Iran, Pakistan, Syria? Where JARVIS?” Tony asked excitedly.

“Actually, Sir-“

“It’s Miami, Boss!” FRIDAY interrupted JARVIS.

“Really?” Bruce sounded as surprised as the rest of them looked, “Well… I’m kinda not too surprised,” he corrected, “pirates, booze runners, gangsters, drugs from South America… A terrorist isn’t much of a leap.”

Tony nodded his head, “Well, who is staying with Peter? Unless he’s going to Asgard again?”

Thor and Loki looked at each other and then turned to look at Bruce, who raised his hand, “I volunteer for tribute. A Code Green in Miami is not what I wanted for Christmas.”

“Ok,” Tony agreed as he kissed Peter on his forehead, “Be good for Uncle Brucie Bear. JARVIS, I want The Legion here, ASAP. Till then have my suits that are stationed here at the Tower on high alert. If they’re aiming for my family, Peter is next and I want us ready for them.”

“OK. If that’s settled, let’s go,” Loki let go of Peter, stood, switched to his armor, and turned and looked at the rest of them.

Peter stood and hugged him. “Bring my mom home, please,” he looked up at his adopted father.

“I will, I promise.” Loki hugged him back and stood back.

A few suits flew up from the lab and landed on the balcony, Tony went out and inspected them, “What do you think, J?”

“Let’s go with this one,” JARVIS had The Silver Centurion step forward, “He’s the most battle-ready of what’s in our arsenal. I’ve added some extra defense weapons that I would like to say are my Christmas presents to you, Sir.” JARVIS sounded a little too excited. The suit showed off the extendable Vibranium blades on each of the gauntlets while JARVIS narrated, “Enhanced energy output from multiple cores in the suit allow it to transfer energy to the various repulsors in its system, including the Unibeam. It also contains numerous infrared flares, concealed shoulder guns, and a few extra features that I will share with you in Flordia.”

“Get in the suit, already Anthony,” Loki complained as he pushed him forward. Thor stood next to him, Mjölnir at the ready.

“Are we calling in the other three for this?” Bruce asked next to Peter at the doorway.

“FRIDAY, reach out and see if they wanna join the party,” Tony asked his AI.

“I did already, Boss!” She replied, “Birdbrain said he was unavailable but Ms. Natasha and Capsicle asked to be picked up in DC!”

“Why is she so perky?” Loki complained, “It’s grating.”

“For that, she’s keeping that personality,” Tony retorted as they made their way towards and onto the small Quinjet that Tony had ‘acquired’ for his private use. He had JARVIS source it and he upgraded it for emergency, untraceable trips. He had used it a few times for fun but this was the first time it was needed for a mission. “Huh.”

“What is wrong?” Thor asked from behind Tony as he checked JARVIS’s flight plan as they headed towards DC and then Miami.

“This is the first Avengers Mission since New York and rescuing Pepper and Mags was not what I had in mind when I had J find us a jet. I figured it would be used to get one of you or Bruce away from Ross,” Tony mussed as he swiveled the chair around to look up at Thor.

“I’m just grateful that we have transport. Loki would have struggled to transport all of us and any other forms of transportation on this planet is too slow,” Thor mentioned as he went and sat across from Loki.

“I would have been fine, Thor,” Loki declared as he leaned back against the bulkhead.

“Sirs, Colonel Rhodes has been taken, I just got the alert from his suit. It appears that he was taken eight hours ago and it has just sent out the emergency signal. We will have to fix that, Sir,” JARVIS said worriedly.

“Let me guess,” Tony said sarcastically, “He’s in Miami?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Well, at least we don’t have to divert to the Middle East to pick him up,” Tony responded as he swiveled back to the front of the jet, “Let’s go rescue our family, J.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Must admit that I've been struggling with this story.... I had all these ideas and then poof, gone. 
> 
> Anyways... Lots of bots! All the bots! JARVIS just makes Tony's ideas in his bot making factories and surprises him. "Hey, Sir, made this shiny armor that will DESTROY your enemies. Merry Christmas!" I just see Tony and Loki bugging each other and poking just to see the other get pissed off. Tony knows that Maggie wont let Loki freeze or stab him, so Loki just posts awkward 'Dad' pics on Instagram to get back at him. Tony tattles to Maggie and makes FRIDAY be uber cheerful and then steals Loki's cookies. Shame on Uncle Thor, enabling Peter's sugar obsession. Yay Harley! Harley gets a better prize than a dangerous weapon and doesn't get caught up in the chaos. No evil angry water tower melting guy, he got sun-fried last chapter! I hated that guy. 
> 
> And Mags got Mag-napped! Well, not really... Let's power up?!
> 
> Hope u enjoyed! ♥️


	3. Pepper and Rescue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Welcome to Chapter 3, Mark 2.0.
> 
> Please enjoy!

Maggie hurt everywhere and she was very uncomfortable as she struggled to wake up. Trying to rub her eyes and adjust herself, she found that her hands and arms refused to respond to her efforts. Scared, she struggled. What the hell?! She struggled more and the darkness faded and she realized she was tied down to some sort of apparatus, Pepper on her left, unconscious. Again? Why, when she allowed herself to be kidnapped, did she end up tied to something?

“What the hell!?” She shouted, forcing herself to calm down so she could think rationally. She had transformed herself back into her mortal form before they took her, even Strange couldn’t tell that she wasn’t human, but it left her vulnerable. Inspecting Pepper, she noticed that she was glowing, sweating, and putting off heat. Turning she saw Maya Hansen at a computer station muttering and typing away as a blond man stood behind her.

“So she’s human?” The blond man asked.

“Yeah, I guess Sigyn and Margaret Stark are two different people,” Maya replied.

Maggie rolled her eyes, both she and Loki thought it was hilarious that she managed to keep her identities mostly separate. It made going about easier and they both played it up. She would go out with him or Thor she would just change her hair to her Sigyn form and everyone assumed she was her and vice versa with Tony. She occasionally would take a page from Loki’s book and do a double of the other form, just so people would think that she was two different people.

“Damn, I thought they were the same person. It would have been a rare opportunity to see how Extremis worked on non-human biology,” moaned the blond guy, Maggie assumed was Aldrich Killian. He approached her and circled her restrained body, inspecting her half-naked form (why was she and Pepper dressed in sports bras and yoga pants?), before he came to a stop in front of her. “Ms. Stark, today we are going to see how Tony enjoys losing everything he loves. I even sent several of my people to collect his son.”

Maggie flinched and tried not to transform back to her goddess form. _Wait and see, Mags, he might give you some important information, and then you can take Pepper and blow this freaky popsicle stand_ , she told herself.

“But unfortunately when we made it to the Tower, we were attacked by a battalion of Stark’s metal soldiers,” Killian looked angry? Depressed? Maggie couldn’t tell. “So, I left an obvious trail and decided to use you and Ms. Potts as an example instead.”

“Yes, that makes sense. Lead the rescuer to your door,” Maggie said sarcastically, “what are you going to do when Loki and Thor and the rest of the Avengers get here? You can’t have that many people with the glowy juice.”

“Well, I have you and Pepper as hostages and another on his way, so I believe that I shall have the upper hand. I also plan on presenting to the world the evils and corruption of the United States to bring the world more firmly under my grasp,” Killian monologue. “A couple of silly people dressed up in fancy outfits will be unable to stop me.” He was too confident and it appeared that he didn't know that the people he had sent to kill them in Tennessee were space dust.

“Sooooo… you undressed me and put me in this workout getup in order to do what, exactly?” Maggie asked, “As much as I would love to fight you guys and slice your heads off with my sword, I have a feeling that is not what you had in mind.”

“No, we are about to inject you with Extremis. It’ll make you better, stronger, and nigh-invincible,” Killian motioned to Maya, “If it doesn’t kill you first.”

“Well, that’s reassuring,” Maggie sarcastically retorted, “What happens if I blow up like the other people you failed?” She stated bluntly and Maya flinched.

“If we’re lucky, you won’t,” Killian said as he moved to leave the room, “It will be interesting to see how you and Pepper turn out.” He leered at her and then gave Pepper an even creepier inspection and then left.

“Yeah, that’s not creepy,” Maggie said as she pretended to struggle, “Maya, why are you doing his James Bond Villain bidding?”

“This is my life’s work and I needed funding…,” Maya trailed off as she played with some vials and loaded up some weird medical gun that could have a home in Star Trek, “I can leave at any time.”

“Yeah, I highly doubt that,” Maggie muttered as she glanced over at the now moaning Pepper, “Pepper! Pepper!”

“Mags?” Pepper’s eyes blinked open, her pupils were blown wide and she didn’t know where she was.

“Heeeey…. How are you feeling?” She asked her friend, knowing that Pepper was not feeling the best.

“I’m on fire,” she moaned and her skin started to take on a white-hot hue.

Maya came over and injected Pepper with something and then went back to her computer, made some notes, and then picked up another injector gun. Approaching Maggie, she set the gun against her skin on by her pulse point and injected her with the serum. Immediately Maggie felt it burn through her system and she felt The Mother awaken and inspect the intruder. **_Hmmm, we can use this… but it will take time to adjust it to your mortal form. Sleep, child_** … and that was the last Maggie knew before darkness enveloped her.

*******

Tony inspected the Quinjet’s landing procedure and gave JARVIS the go-ahead to land in DC. They settled much more gracefully on the ground than he could have managed and the rear hatch lowered, revealing Cap and Nat standing a few feet away.

“Get in losers, we’re going to Miami!” Tony shouted from the front of the jet and everyone rolled their eyes. The two Avengers got on the jet and the ramp closed as JARVIS took off. They were on federal property (The Mall), so it was a good idea to leave immediately before they were spotted and reported (or shot down). Yay for stealth technology! The reflective panels he had improved upon were a thing of beauty and way too useful especially if you wanted to enter protected airspace without being noticed.

“What’s the situation? JARVIS and FRIDAY gave us a rundown, but I’d like to hear it from you,” Cap sat down next to Thor. Nat tossed her bag on the floor and sat next to Loki and Tony remained in the cockpit facing them.

“Killian bombed my Malibu house with us in it but Maggie got Peter, Loki, and Thor out before it got hit. JARVIS flew me to Tennessee on autopilot, Pepper got kidnapped and then Maggie got kidnapped, and apparently so did Rhodey.” Tony rambled, “All three are probably in Miami where the Mandarin, the guy who has been using people as bombs, has been broadcasting. AIM is a front for Mandarin, or I’m assuming it’s a front….”

“How did Maggie get kidnapped? Isn’t she all-powerful?” Nat asked.

“Yes, she’s very powerful but she tends to make rash decisions without consulting us first,” Loki grumbled.

“She used herself as bait in order to allow us to track her and to find Lady Pepper,” Thor added and then shook his head, “This is not the first time she has done this. I would say we need to stress the need for her to use caution, but it would be fruitless. Your wife is reckless, Brother.”

“Yes, but she’s no more reckless than you, Brother,” Loki bit back, “but she needs to learn that this is something that she cannot repeat in the future. She has too many depending on her now and if she’s….,” Loki trailed off, “If I have to bind her seiðr to keep safe, I will.”

“If she’s what, Loki?” Tony asked.

“Nothing. It’s nothing,” Loki bit out, crossing his arms and refusing to say anything else. Thor stared at his brother, surprise on his face before he shook his head and muttered something under his breathe that none of them but Loki seemed to understand. Loki gave Thor a tiny smile, just a quirk of his lips before Tony decided to continue with his briefing.

“Ok, we’re going to the location of the broadcasts which appears to be a mansion that is owned by a shell company. JARVIS and FRIDAY tracked it back to AIM, so we’re assuming it is surrounded by guards and people with fire powers.” Tony had JARVIS bring up a 3-D image of the house and grounds. As a team, they analyzed where the Mandarin may be housed, possible guard postings, and the easiest way to get in. They came up with a plan and then geared up.

“Here, Nat,” Tony handed Natasha a pair of Maggie’s batons, “I’ve upgraded them from New York, they have six different settings and are magnetic so you can just attach them to your back like Cap and his shield.”

“Thanks,” She took them and inspected them. After New York she had them added to her arsenal and she and Maggie had trained together so she could become more proficient.

The cloaked Quinjet hovered over the over-grown mansion in Miami. JARVIS and FRIDAY sent out small drones to get an in-depth analysis of the situation. “Sir, it appears that Colonel Rhodes is located here,” JARVIS highlighted an outbuilding on the map. But I see no signs of Ms. Potts or Ma’am.”

“Thank, J,” Tony rubbed his sleep-deprived eyes, “One out of three isn’t too bad. Is The Mandarin home?”

“It appears he is located here, Boss,” FRIDAY’S voice chimed in.

“Ok, so we split up,” Steve brought up the map of the mansion, “Nat, Tony and Thor will go and get Colonel Rhodes. I and Loki will capture The Mandarin. We’re going for in and out as fast as possible.”

“I have a direct link to the cameras in the mansion, Sir,” JARVIS started flashing videos up on the screen, “It appears that Maya Hanson and Killian are here.”

“Oh, good!” Tony stepped into his suit, “just the people I want to beat up so we can get some info.”

Loki teleported Nat down to the ground and then Thor, Steve, and Tony stood in the open ramp of the hovering Quinjet, “Who’s taking Cap?” Tony asked, his faceplate open.

“It would be easier if you took the Captain,” Thor replied before twirling his Hammer and jumping out of the jet.

“Ready, Cap?” Steve nodded and Tony took off with him. They landed in the rear of the property and they split off in separate directions.

Nat must have been the first one to go down, then Steve, then Thor, because their comms went silent. It turned out that Killian had been loaded for elephant. Tony couldn’t raise Loki on the comms.

“What is going on JARVIS?”

“It appears that they were expecting us, Sir,” JARVIS replied, “The tranquilizer that they used on Mr. Odinson is an extremely strong dosage- Sir! Behind you!”

Before Tony knew it, he was tackled by several glowing Extremis people. His suit heated up to unbearable levels and he was forced out by JARVIS. He dodged and ran through the grounds before he was grabbed and teleported back to the Quinjet by Loki. “It appears we need a better plan, Anthony,” Loki said as he started pacing. “They expected us and immediately took out the others.”

Warmachine suddenly flew up from the mansion and a chopper lifted up from the grounds, “JARVIS, what is going on?”

“Killian is leaving with Maya Hanson, the destination is unknown, and Colonel Rhodes was not in his suit, Sir.”

“Ok, so how far out is the Iron Legion?”

“Five minutes, Boss!” Friday chirped happily and Loki rolled his eyes, “We’re sending out another suit, so 10 minutes for that.”

“So as soon as my bots get here, we’ll go and get everyone out,” Tony said just as his phone started ringing, “Hey, Platypus, I’m assuming that wasn’t you in that suit?”

“No. Where are you?” Rhodey asked as gunshots sounded.

“Hovering above you, I’ll get Jack Frost to get me down there and we’ll go see if we can get some answers.” Tony motioned to Loki who glared at him. “Nevermind,” he looked at his beeping watch, “I’ll see you in a sec.” The ramp on the Quinjet opened and Tony dove out the hatch and one of the suits enfolded him. “It's good to be back. Hello, by the way.”

“Oh, hello, Sir,” JARVIS replied as they landed with a clank in front of Rhodey.

“I see you found some hot trouble in the Middle East,” Tony blasted the guard behind his best friend, “I’ll give you a suit if you apologize for taking the last one.”

“I sent him back, so I shouldn’t have to apologize. It’s not like you could spare one out of a million in your robot army,” Rhodey quipped as he shot another guard as they made their way to the main house, “Where’s Mr. Maggie?”

“I don’t know where Reindeer Games is,” Tony ducked one of the Extremis soldiers and sliced the guy’s head off. He felt his suit warm up on his side and before he could do another slice and dice, Loki beat him to it.

“I’m exactly where Sigyn would want me to be,” Loki answered as he threw a dagger and hit a guard behind Rhodey, “Making sure her brother and his more attractive brother are kept alive.”

“Ha!” Rhodey shouted, “I’m prettier!”

“We all knew that Rhodeykins,” Tony said as they finally made it to the porch of the house. They all peeked in the window, “Is that him?” There was a guy in a recliner watching the TV, “Is he watching soccer?”

“It’s football, you heathens,” Loki replied, “and apparently so.” The man cheered and sang a little celebratory jingle while a few girls were playing Ping-Pong in glittery swimsuits.

Tony moved off to go around from inside the house and Loki and Rhodey waited till he entered the room before making their move. “So, how’s it been? How’s the wife? How’s Asgard?” Rhodey asked as he checked his gun and reloaded.

“Good. Sigyn has aged me centuries with her little stunts these last few days. Asgard is golden…” Loki trailed off as Tony waved from the doorway. “Ugh, he’s such a child. I swear Peter is more mature than him most days.”

“Peter is more mature than him, it’s a fact,” Rhodey replied as he adjusted so he could jump through the window. Before he could move, two armed guards entered the room and scared the girls out.

“Hey! What's this? I had winners,” Tony whined as he moved into the doorway, holding a Ping-Pong paddle in his Iron Man suit.

“Really?” Rhodey sighed as the guards shot as his friend. Rhodey shot the guards through the window and then followed Loki into the room.

Rhodey strode over to The Mandarin and put his gun right up to his head, “Don’t move.”

“Bloody hell, bloody hell,” The Mandarin swore and held up his hand and his beer in surrender, “I’m not moving. You want something? Take it. Although the guns are all fake because those wankers wouldn’t trust me with the real ones.”

“What!?” Tony and Rhodey said at the same time.

“He’s not the Mandarin,” Loki said as he pulled out a knife and went to stab the guy.

“The Mandarin, the real guy. Where? Where's the Mandarin? Where is he?” Tony asked forcefully, “Or my friend here is going fillet you.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. He's here. He's here, but he's not here. He's here, but he's not here,” the guy said nervously.

“What do you mean?” Tony asked and Rhodey tapped the guy in the head with his gun.

“It’s complicated. Hey, don’t hit me! It's complicated.”

Loki sliced the guy’s shirt, “It is? Uncomplicate it.”

“My name is Trevor. Trevor Slattery. Hi. I know I'm shorter in person. A bit smaller. Everyone says that. But, um, hey, if you're here to arrest me, there’s some people I'd like to roll on.” The guy shifted away from Loki’s knife and closer to Rhodey’s gun.

“What are you? A decoy? A double?” Rhodey nudged Trever with his gun to get his attention.

“No, no, no. Don’t hurt the face! I’m an **_actor_** ,” Trever raised his chin and waved his free hand sideways through the air, hitting Rhodey. He sipped his beer.

“You got a minute to live, then I let these two take you out back and put you down,” Tony said as he snatched the beer from his hand and threw it across the room.

“It’s just a role, ‘The Mandarin’, see it’s not real,” Trever panicked.

“Really guy! How did you get here Trever?” Rhodey was getting impatient.

“Um. Well, I, um, had a little problem with, um, substances. And I ended up, um, doing things, no two ways about it, in the street, that a man shouldn't do.”

“Next!” Tony shouted at Trever.

“Then, they approached me about the role, and they knew about the drugs,” Trever ended up tilted back further in Rhodey’s anger.

“What did they say? They'd get you off them?” Tony prompted Trever.

“They said they'd give me more! They gave me things. They gave me this palace. They gave me plastic surgery. They gave me things,” Trever nodded off and started to snore.

Loki started cursing, “Did this moron just fall asleep?!” Loki slapped Trever.

“And lovely speedboat! And the thing was, he needed someone to take credit for some accidental explosions,” Trever pretended something exploded with his hands and hit Rhodey and Loki. Rhodey pushed his gun harder against the guy’s head and Loki slapped Trever again.

Tony sighed, “‘He’ is Killian?”

Trevor smiled stupidly, “Killian.”

“He created you… a custom-made terror threat?” Tony rubbed his forehead.

“He created me, his think tank thinked it up,” Trever’s voice went from British to American Preacher, “ ** _The pathology of a serial killer. The manipulation of Western iconography. Ready for another lesson_**?.... Blah, blah, blah. No. Of course, it was my performance that brought the Mandarin to life.”

“Tony, I swear to god that I’m gonna blow his face-off,” Rhodey complained.

“Please do,” Loki replied, “as a god I give you permission.”

“Here’s how it works, Meryl Streep,” Tony leaned over the guy so all three of them were in Trever’s face.

“You tell him where Pepper and Maggie are and I won’t kill you,” Rhodey threatened, “but I can’t promise he won’t,” he nodded towards a smirking Loki who was twirling his knife before slicing Trever’s shirt and skimming his skin, drawing blood.

“Ow, I get it! Ow! That hurt. I get it! I get it! I don't know about any Pepper, but I know about the plan,” Trever’s eyes jumped back and forth between the three of them.

“Spill.” Tony tapped Trever’s head.

“Do you know what they did with my suit?” Rhodey poked Trever with his gun.

“What? No. But I do know it's happening off the coast. Something to do with a big boat. I can take you there…” Trever trailed off and looked over at the TV. “Woah! Ole', ole', ole', ole!”

Loki slapped Trever again, “Colonel if you aren’t going to kill him, I’m going to.”

“Oh, and this next bit may include the Vice President as well. Is that... Is that important?” Trever smiled sheepishly.

“Yeah, a little bit,” Rhodey said sarcastically as all three of them moved across the room.

“So?” Tony looked at the other two. “We have Capisicle, Widow, and Rapunzel to rescue before we can go get Pepper and Mags.”

“Sir?” JARVIS’s voice interrupted from Tony’s suit, “We have taken care of all the threats and have started to revive Mr. Odinson. It appears that The Captain and The Black Widow need medical attention, so they are now en route to the Tower and Doctor Strange has been notified. Unfortunately, I had to commandeer the Quinjet.”

“What are we gonna do? I mean, since we don’t have transport,” Rhodey said as he looked over Tony’s suit, “Well everyone but you.”

“Right. Loki go get Point Break and bring him here,” Tony swiveled back toward Trever, “Hey! Ringo! Didn’t you say something about a ‘lovely speedboat’?”

Loki came back, dragging a woozy Thor behind him. They grabbed some food and water for him and then got on the speedboat. As they sped across the waves, Thor quickly unloaded his stomach over the side of the boat while Loki discreetly got it on video.

“If he's right about the location, we're 20 minutes from where Pepper and Mags are,” Tony said as he watched the two brothers bicker. “JARVIS has bots on their way to Air Force One right now, so that should be sorted.”

“But we also have to figure out this Vice President thing, right?” Rhodey said as he watched Thor take Loki’s phone and throw it over the side of the boat. “Thank god for your Robot Army so we don’t have to choose between saving Pepper and Mags or the President.”

“It’s not a Robot Army, Platypus….Right! I wonder who I’m calling right now? Oh! That’s the Vice President!” Tony said as he wandered off to talk to the man.

Rhodey sighed and watched as Loki pulled out another phone from somewhere just as Thor threw up over the side of the boat again. “How is this life?” He muttered as he followed after Tony so he could talk to the Vice President.

*******

Maggie woke up in a new location, Pepper still next to her but Killian was being even creepier at Pepper and Pepper flinching back and looking disgusted, “Hey leave her alone Jeffry Dahmer!” Maggie shouted as she pulled against her bonds. **_Cease! It is almost done!_** The Mother yelled at her.

Maggie settled and Killian laughed at her, “Resistance is futile, Ms. Stark. Those are Vibranium restraints, you are going nowhere.”

Maggie rolled her eyes, she could go wherever she damn well pleased, she just had to wait until The Mother finished her work, and then Killian would be Sun food. **_Done_**. The Mother informed her. Maggie gave Killian her best Smirk of Victory and transformed into Sigyn, powered by Space and Mother. She gave a pull up with her shoulders and then stepped out of the contraption.

Killian backed up, glowing and his eyes rolling in fear, “What are you?”

“The Goddess of Victory and your demise,” Sigyn and The Mother replied. Alarms blared throughout wherever they were, “And it appears that my brother, husband, and friends are here to retrieve Pepper and me.” She got rid of the disgusting workout clothes for Pepper and manifested her armor. This was her ‘Angry Armor’ as Thor had dubbed it. It was a dull black with several spikes on her elbows, and shoulders and the gauntlets held several knives and a battle-ax of Eitri’s design on her back. Her sword in her hand she approached Pepper’s tormenter. “ ** _Suffering shall be your eternal torment. You shall rot in the deepest pit of the Dark Dimension, the servant of Dormammu. Forever.”_** She intoned before using her sword to sever his head and send him through the portal to the Dark Dimension.

Suddenly a portal opened next to her, The Sorcerer Supreme stepped through and eyed Sigyn with a beady eye, “What did you do, Mother?” The Ancient One asked, “You are making my job harder.”

“Getting rid of the trash,” Maggie said as she went over to Pepper and released her.

Pepper eyed her new clothes, “Maggie? Am I wearing a silk and gold gown?”

Maggie realized that Pepper was wearing an outfit she hadn’t worn in about five hundred years and it was an everyday Asgardian dress, “Oh, yeah. Sorry about that,” Maggie went to change it to something more practical.

“Nope, leave it. It’s mine now,” Pepper said gleefully. The fighting outside was getting louder and the room they were in swayed. Maggie dragged Pepper out of the door and out into the night. They were surrounded by the ocean, an overly large Christmas tree of lights was in the process of being destroyed, suits controlled by JARVIS flew around, Thor was blasting Extremis soldiers and Loki was cutting off heads with his sword.

“Looks like the whole family is here, care to join us Ancient One?” Maggie asked her old friend.

“I have to go fix a few tears in the fabric of reality that you caused, maybe next time,” They said before opening a portal and stepping through. “I’ll see you for your next dinner, I’ll bring Wong.”

“Ok, bye!” Maggie waved and then handed Pepper a sword, “Remember our lessons?” She asked her “Zombie lesson number one, go for the head.”

Pepper laughed and Maggie turned as a suit landed next to her, “Ma’am, I am glad to see you and Ms. Potts are alright,” JARVIS’ voice came from the suit. He handed them each a comm and then enfolded Ms. Potts into the purple suit. “Rescue and I will assist Sir.”

“Rescue?” Pepper asked, her faceplate still up and the sword in her hand.

“Tony talked about the suit, I’m glad he and JARVIS got around to it,” Maggie said with a smile. “Go have fun with JARVIS, and I’ll see you after this is all done.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if you read the unfinished version of Chapter 3 I accidentally posted yesterday... oops. I've been having several rough days and was editing and hit POST instead of SAVE AS DRAFT. So consider yourself a beta!
> 
> Thank you @PrincessPrettyPants for commenting (I realized I had posted it after seeing your message this morning lol)! I'm also sorry that I promised to post it Tuesday night but instead, it's on Wednesday... 
> 
> I think two more chapters. Lots of love to all of you! <3


	4. Not Blowing Up For Christmas

After the bots rescued the staff on Air Force One with Tony’s help via his JARVIS integrated VR glasses, Rhodey and Tony tried to figure out the best way to infiltrate the oil rig to save the President, Pepper, and Maggie.

“So how big is your Robot Army, Tones? Because the satellite readings are telling us that there are at least 35 Extremis hostiles and probably double that in normal humans.”

“I’m sorry Colonel but Sir doesn’t have the current numbers but I can assure you that we have enough to back you up sufficiently,” JARVIS interrupted before Tony could say anything.

“Tones…” Rhodey looked at his friend in concern, “Is JARVIS turning into SKYNET here?”

“No, he’s just making sure that I have plausible deniability despite the fact that I’m responsible for him,” Tony rubbed his eyes. He hadn’t slept in two days and he didn’t have the stamina like he used to. Ever since he found the new element, he hadn’t gone on any days long inventing benders. Between Maggie, Pepper, Peter, and his AI’s, he never got the chance anymore. His labs were turned off, he was put on a regular sleep and eating schedules after his therapist had insisted on routines for Peter and his well-being.

“Well, actually Sir…” JARVIS sounded guilty.

“I don’t want to know right now, J. Tell me after this is all over,” Tony cut in, “I just want to figure out a plan where we all live and we all go home. Now, where do you think Pepper, Mags, and the President are being held? They have Rhodey’s suit and took the President with that, so maybe they kept him in it…?”

“Analyzing, Sir.”

JARVIS showed them a map of the oil rig, “I believe the readings from Colonel Rhodes’s suit are currently in the middle of the rig, strung up between two overhead cranes. I am unable to get readings on Ma’am, but there are two Extremis readings with a third anomaly, that appears human-esque, in the center of the rig.”

“What do you mean human-esque, J?” Tony asked as he zoomed into the map.

“It’s Sigyn,” Loki came up behind them after givimg up on making fun of Thor. “She will read human to Midgard’s simple machines when in her mortal form but no longer for yours. I added some upgrades to JARVIS and FRIDAY so they could read Sigyn’s bio-readings.” Loki appeared worn down, circles under his eyes and his hair was unwashed and unkempt. They all have been running straight, with no rest, since the Malibu bombing.

“Why would you do that, Frosty?” Tony squinted at Loki and he just shrugged.

“She’s always getting into trouble and if it made it easier to track her down….,” Loki deflected.

So they mapped out a plan how they would infiltrate the oil rig, Rhodey would get the President and the other three, with the help of JARVIS and his bots, would get rid of the Extremis Soldiers and find Pepper and Maggie. As the boat approached the rig, they readied their weapons and prepared to fight.

“Why do I find myself using this more in the last year than I have in my entire life,” Loki muttered as he fingered the edges of his Vanir sword.

“It appears Brother, that the enemies of Midgard are easier to defeat with a larger blade than a smaller one,” Thor elbowed Loki jokingly, having recovered from his bout of sickness. The sedatives they had used on Thor finally wore off enough that he was able to eat and drink the water they had pilfered from the Mandarin Mansion. “Plus, I doubt you would want to get any closer to this enemy. It’s like the fires of Surtur,” Thor held up his arm, showing healing burns in the shape of hands.

Loki eyed the burns. It was difficult to injure them, so it was impressive that they were able to mark his brother. “I need to talk with her,” Loki sighed, “We’ve been avoiding the fact that we must leave Midgard and deal with the conflicts caused by us destroying the Bifrost. Her cousin needs to be defeated and Vanaheim restored to her… but she doesn’t want to leave Anthony or Peter…” He trailed off as the boat slowed, “I need your help to convince her to leave and take better care of herself. She’s been in danger for most of her life and with a son and a people to put first… The Mother and the Stones don’t make her invincible and she needs to acknowledge that.”

“We all need to be more cautious, including you, Brother,” Thor said as he shifted and gripped Mjölnir, “The Mad Titian is moving and we need to keep her hidden as long as possible. The Chitauri invading Earth was a warning and she needs all the Stones in order to defeat him.”

Loki looked down at his hands, “He’ll hunt her down if he finds out about her existence. Luckily, right now, he believes the Mother is dead with the previous incarnation.”

“Excellent. That gives us time,” Thor said as he grabbed a chain hanging down from the rig and pulled the boat closer, “Battle first. Win and then we’ll talk with Sigyn.” He smiled at Loki and started to swing Mjölnir, “Good luck, Brother,” Thor flew off.

“Ready, Reindeer Games?” Tony came up and gripped Loki’s shoulder, “You find Mags. JARVIS and I have the Glow Sticks.” Loki nodded and teleported to one of the higher pylons. Searching the rig for the place JARVIS had pointed out the readings, he observed lights in the distance as they approached. It appeared as if the multitudes of stars in the sky were moving towards this point on earth, there were so many of them.

Hundreds of bots surrounded the rig and Tony’s voice came over the comm in his ear, “JARVIS, target Extremis heat signatures. Disable with extreme prejudice.”

“Yes, Sir.” All the bots replied in JARVIS’s voice.

“Search for Pepper and Mags. Did you send Rescue?” Tony asked.

“Yes, Sir,” JARVIS’s voice just came over the comm this time, “Rescue is inbound.”

“Alright, guys, let’s do this!”

After the bots made their appearance, Loki started slicing off heads and stabbing everything in sight. He made his way to the central upper platform of the rig where the readings were. As he got closer he saw Sigyn pull an Asgardian dressed Lady Pepper out of the building. Sigyn was dressed in her Thor dubbed ‘Angry Armor’, her battle-ax on her back. “She must be really livid if she’s wearing that,” He muttered and the comm picked up on it.

“Oh, look at that!” Thor’s voice came over the comm, “I thought she said she lost that.”

“She didn’t, she lied,” Loki grunted as he sliced his way through the burning humans, “This is asinine!” Frustrated he threw his sword back into his pocket dimension and twisted the Casket of Ancient Winters out and just started blasting.

“Any why didn’t you lead with that?!” Rhodey yelled as he flew past in a borrowed suit, carrying the President who was in the Iron Patriot suit.

Loki ignored him and all the others as he just kept freezing the Extremis Soldiers and JARVIS took care of blowing them up. Sigyn quickly joined him and started using her powers to blast apart the frozen humans while slicing off the heads of others. A feminine Iron Man suit in purple flew past them and blasted a few more. “You’re getting better Pepper!” Sigyn shouted as she twirled her ax and kicked back a large soldier. Dodging, she sliced and moved back as he spat fire at her. “Come on!” The soldier, despite his size, dodged her blasts and ax. “Loki! A little help here!” Loki blasted the soldier in front of him and twisted around Sigyn and blasted her opponent with the Casket. Breathing heavily, they stood back to back and assessed the situation. The soldiers all appeared to be defeated and all the remaining Bots floated around the rig. Tony and Pepper landed near Thor who was by the ‘Christmas tree’ of lights. Loki twirled the Casket back into his pocket dimension, grasped his wife’s hand, and teleported them next to the others. Maya Hanson stumbled out from behind a shipping container and they all swiveled and pointed their weapons or repulsors at her.

“Whoa! Whoa! Don’t shoot me!” She pleaded as she dropped to her knees with her hands up. She was bloody and her clothes were ripped.

“Why should we?” Pepper asked angrily as she started to glow.

Sigyn moved and stood in front of her friend, “Pepper, I need you to calm down. Until we can get Extremis stable, you’re not.”

Tony swiveled back and looked at Pepper, his face pale.

“JARVIS, I need you to eject Pepper,” Sigyn told the suit and it opened and Pepper stepped out in a gleam of Asgardian gold and silk.

“Wow,” Tony said, his mouth still open, “Why don’t you go around like this at home?”

“Because she’s not going to listen to Thor’s battle stories at a lavish three-day banquet in Asgard,” Sigyn in exasperation, “Pepper, can you control this?”

Pepper looked down at Sigyn and her glow started to dissipate. After a minute her glow disappeared and she appeared normal. “Yes,” She breathed and squeezed Sigyn’s hands.

“Good! Now, Tony, I need you to take Maya Hansen back home with us so we can get her formula. You and Bruce will work with her until we solve the blowing up problem. JARVIS can we convert a room or something to hold Maya Hansen till we can all get cleaned up and some sleep?”

“Yes, Ma’am. Safe Room on sub level 3 would be appropriate and is stock with necessities.”

“Awesome! Where’s the Quinjet?” She asked as she shifted her armor off, she was barefoot with just a sports bra and yoga pants.

“It’s-“JARVIS started to reply.

“What are you wearing!?” Tony interrupted, in incensed older brother mode, “You gotta put something else on!”

“Oh!” Sigyn looked down at herself, “Mr. Smarmy and his minions dressed me in this,” she complained before shifting to jeans, a t-shirt, and flats. “Pepper was wearing the same thing till I put her in my old clothes.”

They all looked at the fancily dressed Pepper, who glared back, not saying anything.

“I will take Ms. Hansen back with me,” JARVIS interrupted as a bot landed, “The Quinjet is behind you.”

They all turned, Tony stepped out of his suit and they all got on the jet. “Take us home, J,” Tony said as he slumped on a padded bench and the rest sat around him. “Wake me when we get there.”

*******

It was a mess, to say the least. The Vice President was arrested on charges of treason and Maya Hansen was temporarily released to The Avenger’s custody until her trial. Thor had only been knocked out but Steve and Nat had been injected with Extremis and luckily survived the process. Doctor Strange had insisted on working with Bruce, Tony, and Maya to figure out the correct formula. He was a brain specialist and it did re-write the brain’s function, he had pointed out.

The interaction with Steve’s super-soldier serum was interesting. It appeared to temper the effects of the Extremis serum and made it stable. He had healed fast before and now it was instantaneous, his strength was the same but it appeared that his senses were even more sensitive. Peter started calling him Superman. And he was fast. It was frightening how fast he could be.

Loki and Maggie sparred with him individually and then together. He found that it was easier for him to keep up with them, they were both faster than he’d ever seen them. “So you guys have been holding out on me this whole time?” Steve had complained, “What about Thor?”

They had both looked at each other, turned, and then smiled evilly at him, “Of course he’s hanging back, he’d squash you if he didn’t,” Maggie had answered as she twirled and changed out of her armor.

Thor then fought Steve. She had been right. He had bent his shield.

Nat was now enhanced as all the other Extremis Soldiers had been and she and Pepper both had problems regulating their temperatures and melting abilities. Maggie seemed fine but with her enhancements and alien physiology, it was hard to determine what was normal for her. Strange had been unable to get a biology baseline for her so until she returned to Asgard or Vanaheim, they wouldn’t know.

“It seems like she’s fine, The Stone and The Mother must have done something in order for her biology to absorb or mitigate the serum,” Strange had discussed with Bruce as they analyzed Maggie’s scans and tests. “With Steve’s blood, we were able to see how the serum mixed with the Soldier Serum and created a new formula. But with hers, it’s hard to tell, even with Loki’s updates to the system.” Tony hadn’t been able to figure out how he had done it and Loki refused to tell.

“Now that we got Nat and Pepper sorted, do you think we can use this on Tony so we can take out his arc reactor?” Maggie asked from behind them, startling them. “It would also heal his chest cavity, repair his lungs, and get rid of the shrapnel.”

Strange brought up Tony’s medical scans and blood tests, “Maybe, but I’d like to physically remove as much of the shrapnel as possible before allowing him to melt and absorb it.” He flipped through the close-ups of his heart and surrounding tissue, highlighting the shrapnel left in his chest. “I know a surgeon that would be able to get most of this. He developed a new technique and anesthesia that improves surgery results and recovery times. With Stark’s tech that we developed for non-invasive scanning for micro-surgery, we could probably pull this off quite easily.”

Bruce brought up the formula and had FRIDAY do a test with Tony’s blood and the serum. “It appears that if Boss had the Capsicle Serum, he would have similar results as Mr. Rodgers,” FRIDAY flashed the results, “It appears that he’d make a full recovery and have full use of his lungs again.”

“How soon can we do this?” Tony asked as he stepped out of the elevator with Peter.

“I need to contact Doctor Wu and we’ll have to collaborate before we set a date,” Strange said as he flicked the holograms away.

“Oh,” Tony paused, “Chinese National, world-renowned cardiologist?”

“Yes,” Strange said, “I’ll contact him after the holiday and we’ll get the ball rolling.”

“Huh. Small world,” Tony mussed, Yinsen had introduced him to Doctor Wu in 1999 at the conference in Bern where the whole Extremis thing had started. “Who knew…?”

“So Dad could have the reactor out by my birthday?” Peter asked hopefully.

“If everything goes smoothly, we could probably have it out by your Dad’s birthday,” Strange smiled at Peter. “I know I’d love better lung function and eating abilities for my birthday if I was your dad.”

Peter hugged Tony and then hugged Maggie, “This is the best Christmas ever!”

She hugged him back, kissed his head, and didn’t say anything, a forced smile on her face. She knew that she’d have to leave him soon for a while and she refused to spoil his holiday.

*******

A few days later after they had rested, cleaned up the AIM mess, and Pepper did a press conference about everything Loki sat Sigyn down on the couch of their living room. “We need to talk.”

She looked up at him and didn’t say anything, waiting for him to continue. He took a deep breath and started to pace, “We need to leave Midgard.” She didn’t say anything for several minutes. He stopped, faced her and her blank expression didn’t waver, “The Nine Realms are in chaos and we are needed to on Vanaheim, your cousin needs to be taken care of.” She blinked and didn’t say anything. Frustrated at the lack of her reaction, he ran his hands through his hair, “Say _something. Please_.”

“I know,” she smiled sadly up at him, “I’ve been avoiding it because I don’t want to leave. I guess I’m scared that I’ll miss Peter’s entire life and Tony will spiral and… and…” Tears ran unchecked, “I’m not ready.” Sitting down next to her, he pulled her into his arms and let her weep. “The Titian is moving,” she whispered into his neck, “and the Stones must be gathered. Give me a few more months to get them prepared and then we’ll go.”

“What needs to be prepared?” Loki pulled back and wiped the tears from her cheeks.

“Time is here and I need to send Tony in the direction of Mind. He’s in Europe… Hydra has him, I think,” she leaned her forehead on his shoulder and he rubbed her back. “Tony needs to be ready for invasion and we need to find more defenders of Midgard. For some reason, the Stones are drawn here and we must be ready to take a stand here if it comes down to it. Also…” She trailed off and didn’t say anything for a moment, before she took a deep breath, “The Mother did something with the Extremis and I need to go to Asgard to see what is going on with my body. Even Tony and Strange’s medical marvels will be unable to scan me properly.” She sighed and rubbed the last of the tears from her eyes. Sitting up, she looked him in his eyes, hers glowed slightly and her mortal illusion flickered and her true form was revealed. Her iridescent skin complimented Space between her breasts, her eyes with layered colors and her auburn hair reflected the light of the sun through the windows was woven into intricate braids. The difference was the gold markings of her station and powers glowed, as if they were liquid fire. Taking her hands, he rubbed the markings and they burned. Dropping his Asgardian glamour, the chill of his skin just made her markings flare and become hotter.

“We truly are opposites,” Loki mussed, as he traced the patterns up her arms.

She laughed lightly, “We are. Ice and Fire,” She smiled at him, glowing with love and her amusement. 

He pulled her back into his arms and held her tightly, “Please stop running into danger. I can’t lose you again. Peter needs you, Anthony needs you, your people need you… **I** need you _.”_ Silence and the tick of the clock passed the seconds. “This last time was especially foolish and I even contemplated binding your seiðr,” he whispered hoarsely.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered back, tears dripped down his neck, “I will think before doing it again, I promise. You’re right, I have more to worry about than just us anymore.”

He breathed a sigh of relief and swore to himself that he would do anything to keep her safe.

_I’m a monster, after all,_ he told himself, _and I know how far I’ll go to keep her safe._

He had done it before, and he would do it again if he had to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought blowing up all the suits was silly, especially since they were by themselves on an oil rig with no way off...? Tony was already paranoid about the wormhole and the coming threat, and to me, it didn't make sense. I felt that Pepper and Tony were never a good fit in the movies (despite me writing them together here) she lived with him and didn't see the PTSD and just wrote everything off as him being Tony...? Rhodey didn't see the PTSD...? Were they too busy? Never home? Tony couldn't have been that good at hiding it, it's pretty obvious... But then Tony didn't have the support system that he does here and he got help after Afghanistan (even though I implied it way back but never really went in-depth with it). I don't know if I'll keep Pepper and Tony together (aka my 'muse' decides to keep them together) I've always kinda shipped Tony with someone else (and no I'm not telling since I'm not sure if I'll go that way).
> 
> Self-image. Loki struggles with not being who/what he thought he was. It's hard changing years and years of abuse and degradation of your self and your self-image. I can't even look in the mirror most days and I imagine that Loki deals with the same thing. It helps him that Maggie and Thor don't care and I feel that his mother doesn't either, they love him If he's in his female form, white, blue, etc...! Those three love him no matter what form he is in, but accepting it personally is hard. Loving yourself. Is Hard. 
> 
> And done with the angst and the channeling. I had lots of feels about this...
> 
> Thank you for reading! <3
> 
> Next! Christmas!


	5. Christmas!

It was a week after the AIM disaster and Maggie felt the bed depress and the weight of Peter bounced up to her side of the bed. “Get up! Get up! It’s Christmas.” Peter yelled as he started bouncing, Goose in his arms.

“Please tell me that your son didn’t just wake us up with that creature and is jumping on our bed?” Loki muttered into her hair behind her.

Untangling herself from Loki, she flicked her hand, and Peter and Goose floated up and off their bed. She used Space and teleported them to Tony’s room and curled back around Loki, “nope, must have been your imagination,” She teased as she kissed his neck and he pulled her closer.

“This Christmas holiday is confusing, a fat man squeezes down the chimney and delivers gifts and coal to children,” he muttered, “and then there’s an infant in a manger?”

“It’s a religious holiday that was adjusted by the Christians to coincide the winter solstice and the Pagan holidays… I’ve explained this, Loki.”

He hummed in agreement and they both fell back asleep.

“Ma’am? Sir said that he will send Master Peter back up to wake you if you don’t come down for the gift opening. He also threatened to give Master Peter Pixie Sticks before sending him,” JARVIS said, waking them both up.

Sighing she crawled out of bed, pulled on a robe and went to drink some coffee, and brew Loki some tea before they went to the common room floor for gift opening. All the Avengers were here, Barton had even brought his wife and kids to visit Nat, so she needed the fortification.

Loki wandered out in sleep pants, a t-shirt, and the green robe she had given to him last night when they opened their gifts to each other. He settled his chin on her shoulder and wrapped his arms around her waist, “We can put up a shield around our floor and stay all day in bed,” he suggested.

“As much as I would love that, it’s Christmas and it’s for family. Tomorrow we’ll do that,” She said as she set down her coffee, turned around, wrapped her arms around him, and lay her head on his shoulder. She breathed in his scent of leather, books, and spice before stepping back. She handed him his tea, picked up her coffee, and dragged him to the elevator. They sipped their drinks, slumped against each other, as the elevator took them down to the common floor. The doors opened to chaos. “This seems like your sort of scene, anyways,” she smirked at him as she pushed him out.

“It is not the type of chaos that I enjoy,” he muttered as he took her hand and they stood and assessed the mayhem. Clint’s kids chased Peter around and around the room while the adults were spread out on the couch closest to the tree. A massive, overly decorated, Christmas tree was in front of the floor to ceiling windows and the smell of breakfast and sweets filled the air. Maggie had been in charge of Thanksgiving and Steve had taken Christmas, they agreed to take turns cooking for Holidays.

“Maggie!” Tony shouted across the room, “Get over here so we can open gifts.”

The kids all froze and then started pulling and pushing her and Loki over to the tree, “Come on, Maggie!” Peter said from behind her, “I want you to open my gift first.” All the adults moved over and Maggie and Loki sat between Tony and Thor. Thor had his arm around Jane, who had flown in two days ago for the Holiday. They would leave tomorrow for her mom’s house in London to spend New Year’s.

“Why don’t you get everyone a present from under the tree and we’ll all open one,” she said as she smiled up at Peter. The kids dove under the tree and started sorting presents. Soon they all had a present in their hands and they started unwrapping. Peter wedged himself between Maggie and Tony and leaned his head on her shoulder. She peeled the red paper and revealed a photo frame with a photo of Peter, Maggie, and Tony together on a bench, all wearing sunglasses and eating slushies. The frame was handmade, gold with teal, red and blue wires twirled together around the edges and when her thumb hit the jewel on the bottom center, the picture changed to another picture. This one was of her and Peter in their Halloween costumes before they had gone trick-or-treating with Ned. She was Wednesday Adams and he was dressed as Pugsley. The next picture included Ned as Uncle Fester, Tony as Gomez, and Pepper as Morticia. She continued to flip through and saw different pictures of their family over the last year. “It’s beautiful, Peter,” She hugged him and kissed his cheek, “Thank you.”

Peter opened his and found a dagger, “That’s from me,” Loki said as he leaned over Maggie. Tony snatched it before Peter could take it out of the box.

“Nope. No weapons,” Tony said as he tucked it between him and Pepper.

“Hey! I know how to use that, Dad! It’s not even that big. Maggie has been teaching me how to use a sword for a year now and Loki has been teaching me how to fight with daggers.”

“What?!” Tony paled as he looked at the three of them, “Why didn’t you ask me about this before teaching him?”

Maggie pushed Peter up from the couch, “Go open some more presents.” He nodded and shuffled over to the other kids and dug under the tree for more presents.

“He needs to know how to defend himself,” Maggie said as she floated the gift over from Tony, “starting early and teaching him correctly from the beginning is what will save his life. You and I both have enemies and he needs this knowledge. Nat has already been teaching him defensive moves, Happy has been working with him on boxing, and Steve has been working on his endurance. When Harley comes to live with us during the week, he’ll get the same training.”

“Why?” Tony just seemed stumped, “He’s only 11.”

“We won’t always be there to protect him, Tony,” she said quietly. “As both our heir, he will have many enemies. We will prepare him and protect him as much as we can, but he’s your son. He’ll be out in the world saving it before we know it.”

Tony nodded and Pepper took his hand, “She’s right, you know. Peter always wants to help and he’s already creating things to make people’s lives better. The water filtration system that you and Bruce were working on, he helped with. He and Ned did those updates to the Starkphone to add a panic button after they heard about that woman that was attacked two months ago.”

“What happens when your enemies come for him?” Tony asked softly, “He’s mortal and doesn’t have the Capsicle serum or your Asgardian magic to protect him.”

Loki and Maggie looked at each other and they spoke silently before Maggie looked over at Thor who nodded his head in approval. “He’s been eating apples every time he visits Asgard,” She said, expecting him to understand.

Tony just stared at her and Pepper nudged him, “What does that mean?”

“The Golden Apples of Idunn will give him our lifespan,” Thor spoke softly, “He’s already stronger and he’s showing signs of seiðr.”

“Oh.” That was all Tony could say through his shock. He somehow thought that Maggie’s adoption of Peter was symbolic and Peter would just live his normal human life on Earth and she and Loki’s kids would take over Vanaheim and Asgard. He never took Peter leaving Earth and ruling two of the Nine Realms seriously.

“So what happens when you guys have kids?” Pepper asked for them, nodding at the royalty in front of them.

“Peter would still get Vanaheim and the next child would get Asgard unless Thor manages to have children. You would think that the God of Fertility would have managed that by now,” Maggie teased and Jane blushed.

“But… But…” Tony stuttered, his brain just wouldn’t comprehend anymore. These last few weeks had been harrowing and this information seemed to be the last straw.

“It’ll be almost impossible for any human to kill him,” Maggie said as she took his other hand, “You will never have to see him die.”

“What happens when he doesn’t age?” Pepper asked as she eyed the three gods in front of her, “You three are over a thousand years old and you look like you’re barely mid-twenties.”

“Say his mother had good genetics?” Maggie teased gently and smiled sadly. “I thought you would be happy to hear this Tony.”

He took a deep breath and watched as Peter tore through the paper of his presents. His kid was happy and healthy and everyone in this room loved him and wanted nothing but the best for him. Laughter filled the air, there was a glitter of snow on the balcony, and the glass baubles of the tree sparkled from the sunshine and fairy lights. “A better word would be relieved. I’m relieved that he will never have to deal with all the shit I had growing up. I’m relieved that he has a huge family of bad-asses that will go to Hell or Helheim to get him back and to make sure he’s safe. I’m just worried that he’ll break when he loses people he loves on Earth because he’ll outlive them. What happens if he meets someone? What happens if he has kids? Are the apples reversible if he doesn’t want this destiny?” Their little group sat silent for a moment before Tony continued, “We never asked if this was what he wanted. Are we no better than Odin? Or Howard?”

“The apples are reversible,” Loki said softly, “and he’ll have the choice in a few years on what he wants for his destiny. Let us prepare him so he can make the choice that is best for him. The lessons are not only for his safety. A storm is coming…”

Peter ran over and threw himself into Maggie’s arms, “I love it! Can I wear it now?”

“Oh, of course!” Maggie smiled at him and took the helm from his hands and put it on his head. It was a copy of Thor’s that she had one of the smiths on Asgard make for him, “Where’s the cape?” A blue cape was handed to him by Steve who had sat on the floor with the kids. Maggie placed the cape on his shoulders and Peter ran around the room, pretending to be a superhero. She had gotten the other two kids capes too and they quickly followed after in pink and orange.

“Promise me that you will get him out of here if Earth is invaded again,” Tony whispered desperately to Maggie, his grip on her hand squeezing her bones together in his panic.

“I promise,” She whispered back, “but what happens if he’s of the age of majority and he refuses to go?”

****

Tony spent the afternoon in a weird mix of happiness and sadness. All their gifts had still been in New York, the shipment had been scheduled to fly a few days after the bombing and had been halted after that disaster. Unfortunately, the selfie-stick and the few presents that he had purchased in Malibu hadn’t made it but he had gone out and replaced them. Well, everything but Pepper’s rabbit. He had bought her a painting for her office she had wanted (another silly, overpriced, scribble painting by an artist she liked) and made her a gold bracelet cuff with a holographic FRIDAY interface and tracking abilities. “Just in case you’re Pepper-napped again,” he had told her when she had tried it on. Peter had gotten custom made unbreakable watch/tracker, a laptop Tony built with parental restrictions that was Ned-Hacking-Proof, and a bunch of Lego kits. Mags had gotten a new Volvo C30, a small two-door hatchback city car, he had designed and special ordered to be delivered for Christmas. It was a dark blue with a white leather interior and a supped up turbo engine so she could race him or Happy (he still couldn’t talk her into an Audi) with an excellent safety rating. 

She had gifted him several suits that she had designed along with a custom watch. “It has protection spells in it along with JARVIS and FRIDAY,” she had said as she clipped it on him, “We can now track you magically and with your AI’s.” The suits were made from fabric that she had brought back from Asgard. “Some of this fabric is from Vanaheim,” she had said softly as she fingered a sleeve of a blood-red shirt, “They’re coveted by other realms and planets due to their protection against most blades.” She manifested a knife and went to stab through the fabric and skimmed up the sleeve without damaging the fabric.

Steve painted him a portrait of Peter and another of his mother that he would put in the Tower’s Museum. Nat had tracked down his mother’s stolen wedding rings, had them cleaned and boxed in a vintage ring box. Bruce created a new hybrid coffee plant that produced beans with double the caffeine than the normal bean (Maggie had gotten one too). The Birdfam had given him a handmade valet stand, “Birdbrain, you know woodwork? Why didn’t you say so before?” Tony was genuinely surprised. Pepper had given him two sets of vintage Cartier cuff links and a three-week couple’s vacation to the Bahamas on a private island at the end of January. Peter gave him a frame identical to Maggie’s and made him several cookie vouchers (two free cookies from Peter’s stash) and he painted him a painting of him and Rhodey together in their suits. The little plaque on the bottom said _Iron Dad and Iron Uncle by Iron Son_. “It was Uncle Platypus’s idea,” Peter had said, a mischievous smile on his face.

Thor and Loki had gifted him several different Asgardian metals, “These are the most common metals we use for our armor and weapons on Asgard. Solidify your weapons and armor,” Loki had gruffly stated before striding off.

“He’s anxious about leaving Midgard. He’s fine. He won’t stab you if you don’t use it for your armor… maybe… well, probably to test the armor,” Thor shrugged sheepishly and changed the subject back to the metal. “We knew how much you love to explore new metals for your suits and explore new technology. We just ask that you don’t share it with anyone else except your battle brother,” Thor said, referring to Rhodey. Tony readily agreed, excited about his new toys. Rhodey had promised no one but Tony and he would ever touch the War Machine suit again and they had re-negotiated their contract with the Airforce.

Overall Christmas was great! Steve made the traditional Christmas meal, goose and all. The kids screamed and ate too much sugar, Thor kept dragging Jane over to the mistletoe for kisses, and endless Christmas movies played on the TV. Even Strange showed up with a few bottles of wine and a platter of expensive fruit and cheeses. Maggie’s Ancient One/Sorcerer Supreme showed up with a guy named Wong, carrying a platter of Hong Kong egg tarts and a variety of Chinese and Nepalese treats. Apparently, Wong loved to bake. He and Maggie spent some talking before she left him talking with Strange about music, of all things.

“This is nice,” Pepper said as she came over and snuggled with him on the couch in front of the tree, the fireplace to his left and a cup of hot cocoa in his hand.

“It is,” Tony said as he pulled her close and kissed her. “Despite all the crap we’ve gone through the last few weeks, this is one of the best Christmases I’ve ever had.”

Rhodey came over, he had arrived after dinner, “Hey Tones,” he handed him a small package. “Thank you for the brand new War Machine suit for Christmas,” he smiled cheekily.

“We’re calling it ‘Merica and it’s going to be even more spangled than our Spangled Capsicle,” Tony quipped, “JARVIS already designed it with a 25% increase in firepower and a camouflage option.”

Rhodey laughed, “Open it.” Tony ripped the paper off and revealed a picture of him holding Peter, Rhodey standing next to them with the platypus toy that had been Peter’s favorite stuffed animal for ages. The picture had always sat on his bedside table in the Mansion and it was lost when the house was destroyed. “I thought that was the only copy…” Tony looked up at his friend.

“My mom had a copy. She was the one who took the picture. She had to go through three boxes of negatives before she found it and took it to get a copy made. It’s on the family server now, I sent JARVIS a copy.”

Tony got up and hugged his best friend, “Thanks, Platypus.”

“You’re welcome, but you gotta call Mamma Rhodes. She’s the one who should take all the credit, I just framed it.”

“I’ll call her tomorrow, I know she needs her beauty sleep,” Tony pulled back and gripped Rhodey’s shoulders. “I love you, you know. You’re my brother and I love you.”

“I know, Tones. You’re my brother too,” Rhodey hugged him again. “Love you too.”

“I wanna hug too!” Peter came over and wiggled his way into the middle of the hug.

“I thought you were going to bed, it’s 11:30,” Tony chided as he ruffled Peter’s hair.

“I am, just wanted to get a hug and kiss goodnight,” Peter said as he raised his arms for a hug.

Tony hugged him and kissed his cheek. “Love you bud.”

“Love you too, Dad,” he said before he hugged Rhodey and Pepper and then dashed off to hug everyone else.

“Was he wearing a cape?” Rhodey asked as Peter dragged Maggie to the elevator so she could read him a story and tuck him in.

“Yes, all Prince Charmings need a cape,” Pepper chimed in as she sipped Tony’s hot cocoa, “Peter is the most charming of them all.”

“It’s true, Tones,” Rhodey said as he sat next to Pepper and put his arm on the back of the couch. “Your kid is cute, charming, extremely intelligent, and devious. He’ll take over the world in the sneakiest and nicest way possible with FRIDAY and JARVIS’s help.”

“Yeah, most likely,” Tony said as he sat heavily on the couch. “My AI’s even helped him steal cookies and change my protocols. It took me three hours to change FRIDAY back from calling me ‘Old Man’ and referring to things as ‘the bifocal protocol’, ‘I’ve fallen and I can’t get up’, ‘speak louder sonny’… Loki posted it and I still haven’t been able to get it off the internet.” Rhodey was laughing so hard the couch was shaking. “I had to adjust my firewalls again because his little friend Fred helped him hack it.”

“I thought hack was too 1980’s, Tones,” Rhodey smirked.

“We’re from the ’80s, I can use it,” Tony crossed his arms.

“We know you’re from the ‘80’s Tony,” Maggie said as she handed him some cookies and a cup of coffee. “I’m going to bed, everyone else has gone off to bed or gone home.”

Tony looked around and the floor was empty except for them, “Huh.” Tony set his treats down and hugged her. “Good night, sis, Merry Christmas.”

“Night, brother, Merry Christmas and sleep well,” she hugged him back and then hugged Rhodey and Pepper. “Merry Christmas, guys. Rhodey, I put your gifts in your room for you,” Maggie said as she stepped back. “I also put a box of cookies in there for you with another for your mom.”

“Thanks, Mags,” Rhodey said as he sat back down.

They said good night and she disappeared into the elevator and Pepper soon followed. Rhodey and Tony sat up late into the night, ate cookies, and talked about the future.

Who else is better to talk about your crazy life with and to make battle plans with than your best friend and brother?


	6. Epilogue

Tony was injected with a watered-down version of the Capsicle Serum (FRIDAY refused to change the name) a month before his surgery. Strange, Bruce, and Doctor Wu made him wear a medical scanner disguised as a cuff bracelet for the weeks up to his surgery to make sure that he wouldn’t go explody.

“I don’t care how much you hate it! You are doing this for yourself and Peter,” Maggie had scolded him, “You are going to live a long life so you can watch him grow up and make the world a better place.”

He had hugged her and promised that he’d outlive her just for spite and that he loved her too. She had swatted him and gone off to spend her daily hour with JARVIS and FRIDAY getting them prepared for her trip. He wasn’t ready for her to go, but she assured him that it would only be a few months.

His surgery was successful and two weeks later he found himself standing with Maggie at the edge of the cliff where the Malibu mansion had been. Maggie leaned forward and he grabbed her shirt in a panic as she looked down at the ocean, “Are you going to re-build?” She stood straight and looked him in the eyes.

“No. Not right now.” As he let go of her shirt, Tony felt something under his boot. Bending down he picked up a shorty flathead screwdriver, “Maybe someday.”

She leaned against him and took his hand, “You should, but this time it will be entirely your own instead of a ghost of Howard’s.”

Tony smiled at her, “You’re right. Peter and I should design it together and then maybe it’ll feel more like his when he inherits it.” They stood in silence for a bit, “Do you have to leave us?”

“Yes, the threat to the Nine Realms is increasing… The Marauders are waging war on Vanaheim and it’s my responsibility to make sure my people are safe,” She blinked back tears, “I don’t want to leave, but I must. I’ll be back. We’ll be back,” She corrected as she spotted Loki and Thor in the old driveway.

“Be safe. Win many battles. Bring me something good back,” Tony forced a smile and hugged his sister. “Love you, sis,” he whispered in her ear before pulling back and letting her go.

She stepped back and went to stand with Thor and Loki, “We’ll be back before you know it!” She called out before the Bifrost took them away.

Tony stood there and blinked down at the markings on his driveway, “no respect for other people’s driveways.” Shaking his head, he stepped back into his suit.

“I think it enhances upon the abandonment feel of the drive,” JARVIS said as the suit, Mark 40, AKA ‘Shotgun’ encased him.

“Well, we can design the new driveway around it and make it Mag’s mandatory landing pad.

“I will let her know when she comes home that she inspired a trend in driveways, Sir,” JARVIS teased. The suit adjusted for its supersonic flight, “Flight plan for New York City, Midtown is set. ETA 35 minutes.”

“Let’s go home, J.”

Tony Stark will return…

…And so will Maggie.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! Thanks for reading! Please kudo and comment! I love hearing from you guys! <3
> 
> PS: Don't forget to checkout the miniseries! Short stories from our favorite Avengers if you enjoy some fluff, some humor, and a quick read with a hint of angstyness!


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